MXPA98005711A - Method to integrate transfer waiting queue with transfer reserve channels - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and system for use with wireless communication systems having a cellular architecture, to achieve the near real time reservation of channels in a first cell to service call transfers in progress from other cells so that blocked calls originating within the first cell and blocked transfer of calls in progress from other cells are kept within acceptable levels. The method and system specify that a minimum number of unused channels in a first cell can be reserved to service call transfers in progress. In the event that a request for a call transfer in progress from one of the other cells to the first cell can not be serviced due to the lack of unused channels, the specified minimum number of reserved channels is dynamically adjusted in ascending order and the request for a call transfer in progress that can not have service is formed in queue. Queue requests have service in a first form as unused channels become available. In the case where a request for a call transfer in progress from one of the other cells in the first cell can be served without being queued, the specified minimum number of reserved channels is dynamically adjusted in descending order, so that a number of unused channels sufficient to service requests for the transfer of calls in progress is dynamically maintained in a way that does not unduly restrict the call access requests from mobile subscriber units within the first cell

Description

METHOD FOR INTEGRATING TAIL OF TRANSFER WAITING WITH TRANSFER RESERVE CHANNELS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates, in general, to an improved method and system that will be used with wireless communication systems having cellular architectures. In particular, the present invention relates to an improved method and system that will be used with wireless communication systems having cellular architectures, and which dynamically reserve a number of unused channels for the exclusive use of call transfers in progress and in a sufficient number to service the requests so that blocked calls originating within an individual cell and blocked calls in progress from other cells are kept within acceptable levels. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to an improved method and system, which will be used with wireless communication systems having cellular architectures, and which dynamically reserve a number of unused channels for the exclusive use of call transfers in progress. and in a sufficient number to service such requests so that the blocked calls that ST originates within an individual cell and blocked calls in progress from other cells are kept within acceptable levels by creating a reservation channel deposit dynamic, which is adjusted based on the call requests that originate within a cell and transfer requests that originate from outside the cell. 2. - Description of the Related Art The present invention relates to wireless communication systems, and, in particular, wireless communication systems having a cellular architecture (e.g., cellular telephony, personal communication systems, or global system for mobile communication) . Wireless communication refers to the fact that the transmission between the sending and receiving stations occurs through electromagnetic radiation not guided by any hard physical path (for example, through a microwave link). Cellular architecture refers to the fact that the wireless system performs service over an area using a system that can be pictographically represented as a cellular network. Wireless cellular communication is the final embodiment of a technology that was originally known as mobile telephone systems. The old mobile phone system architecture was structured similar to television broadcasting. That is to say, a very powerful transmitter located at the highest point in a given area could spread over a very large radius. If a user is on the unusable radio, then that user can broadcast to the base station and communicate via radiotelephony to the base station. However, these systems proved to be very expensive for users and not very beneficial to the communication companies that provide such services. The main limiting factor of the original mobile telephone systems was that the number of channels available for use was limited due to severe channel-to-channel interference within the area served by the powerful transmitter. In this way, the problem arose of how to provide more channels within the service area. Intuitively to the contrary, the engineers discovered that the effects of channel-to-channel interference within the service area were not only due to the distance between the stations communicating with the base transmitter (which could intuitively see the emergence to interference), but they were also inversely related to the transmitter (radio) power of the area being served by the transmitter. The engineers found that reducing the radius of an area to 50%, service providers could increase the number of potential customers in an area four times. It was found that systems based on areas with a radius of one kilometer could have 100 times more channels than systems with areas with a radius of 10 kilometers. Speculation led to the conclusion that by reducing the radius of areas to a few hundred meters, the number of calls that could be served by each cell could be greatly increased. In this way, reducing the power of the central transmitter allowed a significant increase in the number of available channels by reducing the channel-to-channel interference within an area. However, as the power of the central transmitter was reduced, the helpful area was also reduced. In this way, although the reduced transmission power increased the number of available channels, the small service area provided by said reduced power did not make such radio telephone systems attractive communication options for many users. In this way, the problem arose in relation to how to use the discovery that smaller cell sizes increased available channels in a way that could provide attractive service to users. This problem was solved through the invention of the wireless cellular architecture concept. The concept of wireless cellular architecture uses geographic subunits called "cells" and is supported by what is known as a concept of frequency reuse. A cell is the basic geographic unit of a cellular system. The cells are base stations (a base station consists of hardware located in the definition location of a cell and includes power sources, interface equipment, radio and frequency transmitters and receivers, and antenna systems), transmitting over small geographic areas that are represented as hexagons. Each cell size varies depending on the terrain. The term "cellular" comes from the honeycomb shape of the areas in which a region of coverage is divided, due to the restrictions imposed by natural terrain and man-made structures, the true form of the cells is not a perfect hex, but such a form serves as an effective tool for engineering design Within each cell, a base station controller speaks to many mobile subscriber units at the same time, using a transmit / receive communication channel defined per unit Mobile Subscriber A mobile subscriber unit (a control unit and a transmitter that transmits and receives wireless transmissions to and from a cell site) uses a temporary, separate wireless channel to talk to a cell site. Transmission / reception uses a pair of frequencies for communication, one to transmit from the site base station controller to cell, called the forward link, and a frequency for the cell site to receive calls from users, called the reverse link. Both the forward link and the reverse link must have a sufficient bandwidth to allow the transmission of user data. The concept of frequency reuse is what makes wireless cellular communications a viable reality. Wireless communication is regulated by government bodies (for example, the Federal Communications Commission) Government bodies dictate that frequencies in the wireless spectrum can be used for particular applications. Consequently, there is a finite group of frequencies available for use with cellular communications. The concept of frequency reuse is based on the assignment to each cell of a group of radio channels used within a small geographical area (cell). Adjacent cells are assigned to a group of channels that is completely different from any nearby cell. In this way, in the concept of frequency reuse there is always a regulatory cell between two cells that use the same frequency group. The cells are sized so that probably two cells do not use the same group of frequencies that will interfere with each other. In this way, said scheme allows "frequency reuse" through non-adjacent cells. Since each contiguous cell uses different frequencies, the ability for said system to provide a continuous service through a cell network requires that a call in progress be switched to a new transmit / receive channel as a user transmits from a cell towards another. That is, since the adjacent areas do not use the same wireless channels, a call must be either left or transferred from one wireless channel to another when a user crosses the line between the adjacent cells. Since the fall of the call is unacceptable, the "transfer" procedure was created. The transfer occurs when the mobile telephone network automatically transfers a call from the wireless channel to a wireless channel as a mobile subscriber unit crosses the adjacent cells. The transfer works as follows. During a call, a mobile subscriber unit in motion is using a voice channel. When the mobile unit moves out of the coverage area of a given cell site, the reception weakens. At this point, the base station controller in use requests a transfer. The system switches the call to another channel of different frequency in a new cell without interrupting the call or alerting the user. The call continues as long as the user keeps talking, and usually the user rarely notices the transfer. The previous ideas of cells, frequency reuse, and transfer constituted the invention of the cellular concept. The invention of the cellular concept made the idea of wireless cellular communications a viable commercial reality. The first large-scale wireless communication system using cellular architecture in North America was the Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) (Advanced Mobile Phone Service) which was released in 1983. The AMPS uses the frequency band of 800-MHz to 900- MHz and the bandwidth of 30 KHz for each transmission / reception channel as a fully automatic mobile telephone service. Designed for use in cities, the AMPS later expanded into rural areas. Maximized the cellular concept of frequency reuse by reducing the radio power output. The AMPS is used throughout the world and is particularly popular in the United States, South America, China and Australia. The AMPS uses frequency modulation (FM) for radio transmission. In the United States, the transmission between the mobile station and the base station uses separate frequencies in the forward and back links. Without the introduction of AMPS, the user's demand for bandwidth was initially slow until users became familiar with the power of that system. However, once users became familiar with the cellular power, the demand for the service was exploited. Very quickly, even the extended number of available channels using the cellular concepts of reduced power output and frequency reuse were quickly consumed. The users demanded more bandwidth, and a problem arose in the cellular industry. The engineers responded to the problem by advising the Narrowband Analog Mobile Phone Service (NAM PS) (Narrowband Analogue Mobile Telephone Service). In this second generation of analog cellular systems, NAMPS was designed to solve the problem of reducing call capacity. In e NAMPS, three transmit / receive channels are the frequency division multiplexed into the bandwidth of the individual 30 kHz transmission / reception channel of AMPS - The frequency division multiplexing is the procedure of deriving two or more continuous channels simultaneous of a propagation medium that connects two points through, (a) assigning separate portions of the available frequency spectrum to each of the individual channels, (b) dividing the frequency scale into narrow bands, and (c) using each narrow band as a separate channel. Weik, Communications Standard Dictionary 375 (3 December 1995). The NAMPS serves three users on an AMPS transmission / reception channel by dividing the AMPS 30 KHz bandwidth into three 10 KHz transmit / receive channels. In this way, the NAMPS essentially tripled AMPS capacity. However, although the NAMPS tripled the capacity of the AMPS, it also introduced significant adjacent channel interference effects. The users did not find that interference acceptable. The problem now was how to maintain the extended capacity of the NAMPS system, but without the effects of interference. This problem was more difficult, since at this point, the engineers reached the limits of the analog AMPS channels via NAMPS, to their limits of absolute data carrier capacity Since the spectrum available for cellular is now being reused most efficiently possible, the engineers had to find a new way to increase the AMPS bandwidth but without the adjacent channel interference introduced by NAMPS They achieved this by overlapping the digital multiplexing technologies over the analog channels available in AMP said overlapping schemes they are usually referred to as digital AMPS, or DAMPS. North American digital cellular technology is alternatively referred to as both DAMPS and TDMA. One of the technologies thus covered is that of Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) (Multiple Time Division Access). While frequency division multiplexing divides a transmit / receive channel into narrow frequency band transmission / reception channels so that more user data can be sent on the original transmit / receive channel, the TDMA uses digital techniques to divide the time access to an analog channel before users have access to the analog channel. The TDMA uses digital signals and provides each call with time slots where the digital data is inserted, so that several calls can occupy a bandwidth. Each calling user is assigned to a specific time slot. In some cellular systems, digital information packets are sent during each time slot and reassembled through the receiving equipment into the original signal components. The TDMA uses the same frequency band and channel distributions as the AMDS and NAMPS. In this way, said technology has extended the usable bandwidth of the AMPS to that of the NAMPS, but has done so without the interference of adjacent channel which is a byproduct of the NAMPS.

Like the NAMPS, the TDMA provides three channels (ie, supports three mobile subscriber units) in the same bandwidth as an individual AMPS channel (ie, the analog portion of TDMA is very similar to that of the NAMPS). Unlike NAMPS in digital signal processing TDMA is used to compress the spectrum needed to transmit the information compressing the time without occupation and redundancy of messages that will be sent on a channel. Once the compressed data has been sent over a channel, the brother digital processing equipment, at the other end of the channel, decompresses the signal. Such compression effectively allows more users to communicate about AMPS bandwidth. AMPS, NAMPS and TDMA are currently being used in many parts of the world. Both AMPS and NAMPS use transfer. In addition, since TDMA is digital multiplexing that covers AMPS, TDMA also uses the transfer. In this way, AMPS, NAMPS, and TDMA all use cellular architecture and some variant of the transfer mechanism described above. For reasons to be described below, certain facets of the methods currently used to effect the above-described transfer of calls in progress from one cell to another cell are deficient. It was explained above that in order to provide service through cells, the concept of frequency reuse requires the transfer to occur when a mobile subscriber unit involved in a call in progress transits from one cell to another. Inherent within this requirement is that a channel be available within the cell where the mobile subscriber unit is being transmitted, wherein said available channel is used to accept the call in progress in the cell. It was also explained above that the user's demand for inflexible bandwidth in the past. This demand, instead of subsidizing, is growing nowadays. Consequently, if all the users within some particular cells are distributed to a channel to speak, it is quite possible that all the channels of said cell will be consumed. If all channels in a cell are consumed by users within that cell, no channel will be available for transmission when a mobile subscriber unit involved in a call in progress transits to the cell. Consequently, the call will be "dropped", or will experience excessive interference, when it moves out of range of the base station controller of the cell from which it is transiting. The problem of a cell having no available channels for the transfer (and subsequently possible "dropping" of the call in progress) is usually referred to in the art as "transfer blocking". One method to avoid "transfer blocking" is to reserve "security channels" within each individual cell. These reserved channels are then used to service the transfer requests. Consequently, the ability of said cells to receive a transfer of a call in progress from another cell is assured. There are deficiencies in the way in which said channels are currently reserved. The differences arose from the way in which the security channels are reserved. Some methods to reserve the security channels are based on very sophisticated and complex or confusing statistical methods, which track different variables such as the use of peak and average cell call at specific times during a day, peak duration and average length of the call, number and peak and average of transfer requests at specific times during the day, etc. These tracked parameters are then processed numerically using high-speed digital computers to determine how many security channels should be reserved for transfer within a cell during different times. The purpose of the numerical processing is to use the tracked parameters in order to simultaneously try to minimize the number of calls dropped due to inadequate reservation of security channels and minimize the number of blocked calls (which are blocked due to the fact that the security channels have been reserved) that originate within the same cell. That is to say, numerical methods try to find the optimal number of security channels reserved at particular points of time. Since the processing power needed to implement numerical processing is not always available, most systems happen to rigidly set the number of "security channels" when such processing power is not available. However, such rigid fixation is not responsible for changing data traffic conditions and usually results in too many blocked transfers or too many blocked calls. The methods currently used for security channel reservation are generally time consuming and require very high speed computing equipment or result in an excessive transfer block and / or call blocking. This is usually due to the fact that current methods for reserving security channels either track many different variables and subsequently process the variables to determine the security channel reservation parameters, or rigidly set the number. of security channels. Consequently, these methods neither operate in real time and are computationally intense or do not respond to change data traffic. These facts prove to be disadvantageous and are probably much more disadvantageous as time goes by. It was mentioned above that as the size of the cell is reduced, the number of channels (and thus users) that can be added within the cell increases. Currently, the industry uses this fact to satisfy increases in user demand for bandwidth. That is, since a user's demand for bandwidth exceeds the capacity of a cell, the cell is subsequently subdivided into smaller cells that have more channel carrying capacity. This operation is known as "cell division". Cell division reduces the physical size of the cells. However, assuming that the mobile subscriber units continue to move the cells at the same speed as before, it is evident that all the equipment in the cells will have to increase the speed since the reduced physical size increases the speed at which they have make decisions. For example, a mobile subscriber unit with a call in progress traveling at 80 miles per hour through five cells approximately 1 - 0 miles in width, will need a transfer of approximately (assuming that the transfer is presented exactly at limits of the cells) every 45 seconds. However, if due to the increased user demand for the bandwidth each cell is subdivided (divided) so that each cell is now .5 miles wide, the mobile subscriber unit will need one transfer every 22.5 seconds. It is evident that as the cell size is reduced and the channel intensity increases to a point that will be reached where existing security band reservation methods exist it will be sufficient since the processing time required by the processing methods Numbers will exceed that available to make the decision. In addition, the rigid fixation of the number of security channels will be insufficient since the transfer requests will probably vary greatly depending on the number of calls in progress that transit the cell boundaries and the speed at which the mobile subscriber units are transiting. in the cells. In addition to the above, current numerical processing methods are deficient as they tend to be predictive rather than reactive. That is, they tend to use some predefined baseline of historical channel usage and transfer requests to predict future numbers of transfer requests. The number of security channels is then reserved using these future predictive numbers of transfer requests. This reservation proves to be deficient if the future numbers of transfer requests vary significantly from the predicted numbers. In this way, it is evident that there is a need for a method and system which perform the reservation of security channels in the near real time and so that no unacceptable amount of transfer blocking or call blocking occurs within a cell.

COMPENDIUM OF THE INVENTION Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method and system that is used with wireless communication systems having cellular architecture. Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and systems that will be used with wireless communication systems having cellular architectures, and which dynamically reserve a number of unused channels for the exclusive use of call transfers in progress and a number sufficient to service such requests, so that blocked calls originating within an individual cell and blocked calls in progress from other cells are kept within acceptable levels. A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and systems that will be used with wireless communication systems having cellular architectures, and which dynamically reserve a number of unused channels for the exclusive use of call transfers in progress and the sufficient number to service such requests so that blocked calls originating within an individual cell and locked calls in progress from other cells are kept within acceptable levels by creating a dynamic reservation channel deposit, which it is adjusted based on call requests that originate within a cell and transfer requests that originate from outside the cell. The above objects are achieved as already discussed. A system and method are provided for use with wireless communication systems having a cellular architecture with a plurality of cells. The method and the system achieve the near real time reservation of channels in a first cell to service call transfers in progress from other cells in such a way that the blocked calls originating within the first cell and the transfer blocked calls in progress from another cell are kept within acceptable levels. The method and the system achieve their objects through the following. Specify that a minimum number of unused channels in a first cell will be reserved to service call transfers in progress. In the event that a request for a call transfer in progress from one of the other cells to the first cell can not be serviced due to the lack of unused channels, dynamically adjusting the specific minimum number of reserved channels in ascending order and queuing the request for a call transfer in progress that might have no service, with such requests queued in service in a first form as unused channels become available. But in the event that a request for a call transfer in progress from one of the other cells to the first cell can have service without being queued, the specific minimum number of reserved channels is dynamically adjusted in descending order. In response to a request for call access from a mobile subscriber unit within a first cell, determining whether the number of unused channels in the first cell has fallen below the specified minimum number reserved for the transfer service Call in progress. In response to a determination that the number of unused channels in the first cell has dropped below the specific number of unused channels reserved to service call transfers in progress, the queuing of the request for access to call, queued requests being served in a first way as unused channels become available as long as the number of unused channels reserved to service call transfer in progress meets or exceeds the specified minimum number. In response to a determination that the number of unused channels in the first cell has not fallen below the specified number reserved to service call transfers in progress, serving the call access request so that a sufficient number of unused channels to service call transfer requests in progress is dynamically maintained in a manner that does not unduly restrict call requests from the units of mobile subscriber within the first cell. The foregoing as well as other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The novel aspects that are characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. However, the same invention, as well as a preferred mode of use, additional objects and advantages thereof, will be better understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read together with the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 represents a group of cells within a wireless communication system having a cellular architecture within which the method and system of the present invention can be implemented; Figure 2 is a partially schematic diagram depicting a mobile subscriber unit 210 transiting from cell 101 to cell 104; Figure 3 is a partially schematic representation demonstrating the concepts involved in the transfer based on the received signal resistance indicator; Figure 4 illustrates subsequent cases to the transfer cell determination unit 322 initiating the cell transfer request signal 324 as discussed in relation to Figure 3; Figure 5 depicts a partially schematic diagram of the concepts involved when the cell transfer unit 410 of cell 104 allocates an unused channel to the mobile subscriber unit 210 in response to the cell transfer request signal 324; Figure 6A is a high-level logical flow diagram representing the method and method of an illustrative embodiment of the present invention; Figure 6B is a high-level logical flow diagram representing the method and method of another illustrative embodiment of the present invention; Figure 7 represents a pictorial representation of a data processing system, which can be used according to the method and system of an illustrative embodiment of the present invention; and Figure 8 is an illustration of a representative hardware environment, which may be used in accordance with a method and system of an illustrative embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATIVE MODALITY Referring to the figures and in particular referring to Figure 1, a group of cells is illustrated within a wireless communication system having a cellular architecture within which the method and system of the present invention can be implemented. Recognize that in the previous discussion it was observed that frequency reuse is a concept that has been used to allow cellular communications over a large area. It is common to create a group of cells, as shown in Figure 1, so the concept of frequency reuse is implemented. A cell group is a group of cells. No channel is reused within a group. Figure 1 illustrates a group of seven cells 100. A "cell" is the basic geographic unit of a cellular system. The term "cellular" comes from the honeycomb form of the areas in which the coverage region is divided. In Figure 1, each cell 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106 and 107 is represented as a honeycomb shape within which are shown base stations 1 1 1, 1 12, 1 13, 1 14, 1 15, 16 and 17, respectively. The cells are pictographic representations of the effective geographic area of the base station (a base station includes, but is not limited to, transmitters and receivers sufficient to service existing cell channels with a particular cell) transmitters that are for convenience represented as hexagons. Each cell size varies depending on the terrain. Due to the restrictions imposed by natural terrain and man-made structures, the true cell shape is not a perfect hexagon. Since the group of seven cells 100 uses the concept of frequency reuse, each cell in Figure 1 uses a group of channels, where each channel is based on a group of carrier frequencies different from those used for any cell 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107 within the group of seven cells 100. In this way, if the available frequencies are evenly divided, each cell 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, and 107 will use 1/7 of frequencies available for use. Reference will now be made to Figure 2, which is a partially schematic diagram illustrating a subunit of mobile subscriber 210 transiting from cell 101 to cell 104. Recalling from the above discussion that each "cell" is actually a pictographic representation of the effective area of use covered by a base station, it can be seen from Figure 2 that when the mobile subscriber subunit 210 transits from cell 101 to cell 104, the base station 14 of the cell 104 must either assume responsibility for any call in progress between the mobile subscriber unit 210 or any call in progress will be terminated (ie, "dropped"). As discussed, cell 104 assumes responsibility for any call in progress between the mobile subscriber unit 210 and the base station 1 1 1 serving cell 101 through the "transfer" of the call to the mobile station. base 1 14 serving cell 104. This "transfer" procedure is merely termed "transfer" in the art.

Regardless of technology, the following steps are part of the transfer of any call. The first step in the transfer is to assume a start state where only one cell is supporting a call in question, which in Figure 2 refers to cell 101 supporting a call from mobile subscriber unit 210. The second step in the transfer it is to determine what link conditions on the air between the mobile subscriber unit 210 and the server call 101 are deteriorating, and that there is a potentially better link for a cell binding to the new candidate cell 101. The third step is to select a candidate cell for the transfer, which in Figure 2 is matched to cell 104 since it is the cell in which mobile subscriber unit 210 is transiting. The fourth step is to inform the selected candidate cell 104 of the impending transfer, and of the parameters necessary to identify the mobile subscriber unit 210 and execute the transfer. The fifth step is for cell 104 to answer back to cell 101 indicating to mobile subscriber unit 210 which mobile subscriber unit of channel 210 is to be allocated for communication within cell 104. The sixth step is for cell 104 directs the mobile to start executing the transfer, which is the same as the mobile instruction to tune to a channel assigned for communication within cell 104. The seventh step is for cell 104 to take responsibility for the call in the channel that cell 104 has assigned to a mobile subscriber unit 210. Finally, after the successful transfer cell 101 leaves the responsibility for the call. As already discussed, the TDMA typically consists of digital signal processing coverage over an AMPS or NAMPS system, and the NAMPS generally consists of the frequency division multiplexing of an AMPS system. In this way, the TDMA continues to use the transfer, and as far as the transfer decisions are concerned, the transfer is usually made based on the resistance of the AMPS signals received. Consequently, after the discussion the transfer of an AMPS system will be described, it being understood that said discussion also applies to the NAMPS, TDMA systems, or any digital system transmission over a wireless link using transfer. The transfer activator in an AMPS system can be any of a variety of things. The absolute received signal level as measured by the current serving cell receiver, the difference in signal strength between the current serving cell and a candidate cell, or the receiver that goes out as measured, for example, through the of signal of post-detection to noise. However, the solution that has generally been adopted by the infrastructure manufacturers is to verify a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) in the current service cell. When the RSSI falls below a threshold, then measurements are requested through the cellular switching mechanism 220 from the predetermined transfer candidate cells (e.g., all or a portion of the cells surrounding a current cell). After grouping the measurement reports through the cellular switching mechanism 220, the candidate cell is chosen and the transfer is initiated.

Referring to Figure 3, which is a partially schematic representation that demonstrates some of the concepts involved in the RSSI-based transfer. Assuming that, as shown in Figure 2, the mobile subscriber unit 210 is being served by cell 101, but that mobile subscriber unit 210 is actually transiting to cell 104. Assume also that while in the subscriber unit mobile 210 of cell 101 an "X" channel of cell 101 is being used. Remember from the above that the first step in the transfer is to determine that if an RSSI has fallen below a threshold. Figure 3 illustrates a mechanism by which this amount can be measured since a signal from cell 101 is fed to demodulator 301, which is being activated by an oscillator 320 at the reception frequency of channel "X" of cell 101. The demodulated received signal from the "X" channel is then fed to the signal resistance measuring device 31 1 which receives the cell 101, which produces a received signal resistance indicator (RSSI), which is fed to the signal unit. determination of transfer cell 322 (among other things). Once the transfer cell determination unit 322 has determined that the RSSI of the "X" channel in cell 1 has fallen below a certain predetermined threshold, the transfer cell determination unit 322 requests (requests not shown) other cells (which for illustration security are shown in Figure 3 as the rest of the cells in a group of seven cells 100) in terms of the strength of the mobile subscriber unit 210 of the transmissions in the "X" channel "from cell 101 in those cells requested. Figure 3 shows that in response to the requests (again, requests not shown), the signals received in each of the requested cells 102-107 are demodulated through the demodulators 302-307 using the frequency generated by the oscillator 320 (oscillator 320 generates the frequency over which mobile subscriber unit 210 transmits while using channel "X" in cell 101). Figure 3 shows that such demodulated signals are then fed to the received signal resistance measuring devices 312, 313, 314, 315, 316 and 317, which measure the resistance of the signal received in cells 102, 103, 104 , 105, 106 and 107, respectively. The respective RSSIs for each cell produced by each of the signal resistance measuring devices 302-307 are then fed to the transfer cell determination unit 322. The transfer cell determination unit 322 then uses the RSSIs of the resistance of the signal in cell 102-107 in order to determine which cell of the call in progress of the mobile subscriber unit 310 will be handled. Continuing with the situation shown in Figure 2. the situation in Figure 2 indicates that as the mobile subscriber unit 210 transits to the cell 104, the RSSI for the transmit signal of the mobile subscriber unit 210 will be higher in cell 104. In this way, when the transmit signal of mobile subscriber unit 210 falls below a predetermined threshold RSSI in cell 101, the transfer cell determination unit 322 determines that cell 104 is the candidate cell suitable for the transfer and thus initiates the cell transfer request signal 324. FIG. 4 illustrates subsequent cases to the transfer cell determination unit 322 initiating the cell transfer request signal 324 as shown in FIG. discussed with respect to Figure 3. The cell transfer request signal 324 informs cell 104 of the transfer channel allocation unit 410 that cell 104 is to assume responsibility for mobile subscriber unit 210 (it will be assumed to facilitate the illustration of an illustrative embodiment of the present invention that cell 104 can accept the transfer), which is currently using the channel " X "within cell 104. The transfer channel allocation unit 410 of cell 104 will determine which unused channels available from cell 104 will be assigned to mobile subscriber unit 210 to communicate within cell 104. Once that the transfer channel allocation unit 410 of the cell 104 has determined an unused channel in the cell 104 to which the mobile subscriber unit 210 is to be assigned, this sends a signal (assigned transfer channel signal 420 to cell 104) back to the transfer cell determination unit 322, which subsequently initiates communication with the mobile subscriber unit 210 and directs the mobile subscriber unit 210 to begin communication with the base station 14 in cell 104 at frequencies (forward and back links) covered by the allocated channel of the cell 104 through the switch over the assigned cell 104 of the channel signal 430. Figure 5 represents a partially schematic diagram of the concepts involved when the transfer channel allocation unit 410 of the cell 104 assigns an unused channel to the mobile subscriber unit 210 in response to the cell transfer request signal 324. It was assumed in Figure 4 that the channel within the cell 104 could be available to accept the transfer of the call from the mobile subscriber unit 210 in progress. In Figure 5 it is shown that the transfer channel allocation unit 410 of the cell 104 selects the channel that will be assigned from the unused channel deposit 510. Also as shown in Figure 5, there is the allocation unit of call request channel 500 of cell 104. The call request channel assignment unit 500 of cell 104 allocates channels in response to require channel access (not shown) originating within cell 104. In Figure 5 it is shown that the call request channel assignment unit 500 of cell 104 also selects channels that will be assigned to the unused channel store 510.

For illustrative purposes, it is shown that the unused channel deposit 510 has been further subdivided into reservoirs of channels reserved for transfer 520, and all other unused channels. Said reservation of channels to service transfer requests ensures that call transfers in progress are not dropped as the mobile subscriber unit transfers to a cell (e.g., as the mobile subscriber unit 210 transits from cell 101 to cell 104). The deposit of reserved channels for the transfer 520 can not be used by the call request allocation unit 500 of the cell 104. That is, any channel within the deposit of channels reserved for the transfer 520 is not available for any other use, whether such channels are currently being used or not. As explained above, if the deposit of reserved channels for transfer 520 is very small, then transfers to cell 104 may fall. Conversely, if the deposit of reserved channels for transfer 520 is too large, then calls originating within cell 104 may be blocked. What is needed is a method and system that provides sufficient numbers of channels reserved for the transfer and without excessively blocked calls, and vice versa. Figure 6 illustrates how at least one illustrative embodiment of the present invention provides said capability. Referring now to Figure 6A, which is a high-level logical flow diagram representing the method and method of an illustrative embodiment of the present invention. Step 600 of the method presents the initial case in the procedure, which is the recipe for a request for channel access through a channel allocation unit within a particular cell. Step 602 of the method represents the determination that whether or not the channel request received in step 600 of the method was a transfer request. It was determined that the request for the channel access received in step 600 of the method was a transfer request, then the procedure proceeds to step 604 of the method. However, if it is determined that the request for channel access received in step 600 of the method was not a transfer request, then it is known that what was received was merely a request for channel access for a call that originated inside the cell. Accordingly, the method proceeds to method step 606, which represents the operation where it is determined whether unused channels (at rest) within the cell are less than a preset number of channels (hereinafter referred to as "channels"). "number of channels that will be reserved for the transfer") within the cell which have been reserved for the transfer; that is, if the transfer reservation was satisfied. If the number of channels at rest has fallen below the preset number of channels reserved for the transfer, the channel access request will not be granted, and in this way the procedure proceeds to method step 608, which represents the operations ( optional) either of the request for channel access being queued, or the request for channel access being blocked, or directing the request unit to enter the call access in some other cell; Subsequently, the procedure proceeds to step 610 of the method and is stopped. If it is determined in step 606 of the method that the number of channels at rest within the cell is on or is above the preset number reserved for the idle channels, then it is known that the channels are available to respond to the received request for the channel access, and in this way the procedure proceeds to method step 61 1, which represents that the "number of channels that will be reserved for the transfer" is reduced au no (provided that said number is not zero) . After, the procedure proceeds to step 61 of the method, wherein an unused channel is allocated to satisfy the channel access request. Subsequently, the procedure proceeds to method step 610 and is stopped. As stated above, if it is determined that the request for channel access received in the method field 600 is a transfer request, then the procedure proceeds to step 604 of the method. Method step 604 represents the question of whether one or more channels at rest are available or not (unused). If the question presented in method step 604 indicates that one or more idle (unused) channels are not available, then the procedure proceeds to step 614 of the method, which represents the operation of the request for queuing the transfer. Subsequently, the procedure proceeds to step 616 of the method, which represents the operation whereby the "number of channels that will be reserved for the transfer" is incremented by one. Then, the procedure proceeds to method step 610 and stops. If the question presented in step 604 of the method indicates that one or more channels at rest (not used) are available, then the procedure proceeds to method step 618, which illustrates the operation where the unused channels are determined ( at rest) within the cell are less than a prefixed number of channels (hereinafter referred to as the "number of channels that will be reserved for the transfer") within the cell, which have been reserved for the transfer; that is, if the transfer reservation is satisfied. If it is determined that the number of channels at rest at or below the number of channels reserved for the transfer, the procedure proceeds to method step 620, which presents the operation of the transfer request being granted by the distribution of a channel not used to service the transfer request; Subsequently, the procedure proceeds to step 61 of the method and stops. If it is determined in method step 61 8 that the number of channels at rest within the cell is above the preset number reserved for the rest channels, the procedure proceeds to method step 626, which presents that " number of channels that will be reserved for the transfer "is reduced by one (as long as the number is not zero). Subsequently, the procedure proceeds to method step 620, which represents the operation of the transfer request being granted by distributing a channel not used to service the transfer request; subsequently, the procedure proceeds to method step 610 and is stopped. When it is known which channels are available to respond to the received request for channel access, and in this way the procedure proceeds to method step 612 where a used channel is distributed to satisfy the channel access request. Subsequently, the procedure proceeds to method step 610 and is stopped. Referring now to Figure 6B, which is a high-level logical flow diagram representing the method and method of another illustrative embodiment of the present invention. Components with similar numbers of Figure 6B have the same functions previously observed in relation to Figure 6B unless otherwise noted. Method step 600 represents the initial case in the procedure, which is the recipe for a request for channel access through a channel allocation unit within a particular cell. Method step 602 represents the determination that if the channel request received in method step 600 was a transfer request. If it is determined that the channel access transfer received in step 600 of the method was a transfer request, then the procedure proceeds to method step 604. However, if it is determined that the channel access request received in the method step 600 was not a transfer request, then it is known that it was received merely as a request for channel access for a call to originate within a cell. Accordingly, the method proceeds to method step 603, which represents the operation in which it determines whether the number of unused channels (at rest) within the cell is greater than or equal to a predetermined number of channels (henceforth forward referred to as "the number of channels that will be reserved for the transfer") within the cell which have been reserved for the transfer. If the number of resting channels has fallen below the preset number of reserved channels for the transfer, the channel access request will not be granted, and the procedure proceeds to method step 610 and stops. If it is determined in step 603 of the method that the number of channels at rest within the cell is at or above the preset number reserved for idle channels, then it is known that the channels are available to respond to the request received for access of channel, and in this way the procedure proceeds to method step 7 7, which illustrates the determination that if "the number of channels reserved for transfer" is greater than zero. In the event that the "number of channels reserved for transfers" is greater than zero, then the procedure proceeds to method step 622, which represents that the "number of channels that will be reserved for transfer" is reduced by one (always that the number is not zero). After, the method proceeds to method step 620 where an unused channel is distributed to satisfy the channel access request. Subsequently, the procedure proceeds to step 610 of the method and is stopped. In the event that "number of channels reserved for the transfer" is equal to zero, then the procedure proceeds to method step 620 where an unused channel is distributed to satisfy the channel access request. Subsequently, the procedure proceeds to method step 610 and is stopped. As stated above, if it is determined that the channel access request received in method step 600 was a transfer request, then the procedure proceeds to method step 604, method step 604 represents the question that if one or more channels at rest (not used) is available or not. If the question presented in method step 604 indicates that one or more channels at rest (not used) are not available, then the procedure proceeds to method step 614, which represents the operation of the request for the transfer to be found. in line. Subsequently, the method proceeds to method step 616, which represents the operation whereby the "number of channels that will be closed for transfer" is incremented by one. Then, the procedure proceeds to method step 610 and stops. If the question represented in method step 604 indicates that one or more idle (unused) channels are available, then the procedure proceeds to method step 617, which illustrates the determination that the "number of channels reserved for the transfer "is greater than zero. In the event that the "number of channels reserved for transfer" is greater than zero, then the procedure proceeds to method step 622, which represents that the "number of channels that will be reserved for the transfer" is incremented by one ( as long as that number is not zero). Then, the method proceeds to method step 620, wherein an unused channel is distributed to satisfy the channel access request. Subsequently, the procedure proceeds to method step 610 and is stopped. Referring now to the Figures and in particular referring to Figure 7, a pictorial representation of a data processing system is illustrated, which may be used in accordance with the method and system of an illustrative embodiment of the present invention. The method and system provided through an illustrative embodiment of the present invention can be implemented with the data processing system shown in Figure 7. A computer 720 is illustrated, which includes a system unit 722, an exhibit terminal video 724, a keyboard 726 and a mouse 728. The computer 720 can be implemented using any suitably powerful computer, such as commercially available main frame computers, minicomputers or microcomputers. Figure 8 is an illustration of a representative hardware environment, which may be used in accordance with the method and system of an illustrative embodiment of the present invention. Figure 8 illustrates selected components in the computer 720, in which an illustrative embodiment of the present invention can be implemented. The unit and system 722 includes a Central Processing Unit 831 ("CPU"), such as a conventional microprocessor, and a number of other units interconnected through the system bus 832. The computer 720 includes a random access memory ("RAM"), a read-only memory ("ROM") 836, a screen adapter 837 for connecting the system bus 832 to the video display terminal 724, and an 839 l / O adapter for connecting devices peripherals (e.g., disk and tape drives 833) to the system bus 832. The video display terminal 724 is the visual output of the computer 720, which can be a CRT based video screen well known in the computer hardware technique. However, with a laptop or desktop computer, the 724 video display terminal can be replaced with a flat panel screen based on LCD or gas plasma based. Computer 720 further includes a user interface adapter 1040 for connecting keyboard 726, mouse 728, speaker 846, microphone 848, and / or other user interface devices, such as a touch screen device (not shown), to the system bus 832 The communications adapter 848 connects the computer 720 to a data processing network. Any means that can be read by the appropriate machine can retain the method and system of an illustrative embodiment of the present invention, such as RAM 834, ROM 836, a magnetic disk, a magnetic tape, or an optical disk (the last three being located on disk and tape drives 833) A suitable operating system and associated graphical user interface (eg, Microsoft Windows) can direct the CPU 831. For example, the AIX operating system and the AlXwindows window system (ie graphical user interface) can direct the CPU 831. The AIX operating system is an IBM implementation of the UNIX operating system. UNIX is a trademark of UNIX Systems Laboratories, Inc. The RISC / system 6000 system, among others, can run on the AIX operating system. Other technologies can also be used in conjunction with the CPU 831, such as touch screen or control technology. In addition, the computer 720 includes a control program 851, which resides within the computer storage 850. The control program 851 contains instructions that when executed in the CPU 831 carry the operations represented in the hardware diagrams. logical flow of Figure 6 and the partially schematic diagrams of Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 as described herein. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the hardware depicted in Figure 8 may vary for specific applications. For example, other peripheral devices such as optical disc media, audio adapters, integrated circuit programming devices such as PAL or EPROM programming devices well known in the computer hardware art, and the like, can be used in addition to or instead of hardware already described. As a final matter, it is important that since an illustrative embodiment of the present invention has been, and will continue to be, described in the context of a fully functional computing system, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the mechanisms in the illustrative embodiment of the present invention are capable of being distributed as a program product in a variety of ways, and that an illustrative embodiment of the present invention equally applies without regard to the particular type of signal binding means used to currently carry out the distribution. Examples of signal-carrying means include recording type means such as floppy disks, hard disk drives, compact discs, and transmission type media such as digital and analog communication links.

Since the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood that those skilled in the art can make various changes in form and detail therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (25)

1. - A method for use with wireless communication systems having a cellular architecture with a plurality of cells, said means achieving the near real time reservation of channels in a first cell for call transfers in progress from other cells in such a way that the blocked calls originating within the first cell and the blocked transfer of calls in progress from other cells are kept within acceptable levels, the method comprising the steps of: specifying a minimum number of unused channels in the first cell that will be reserved to service call transfers in progress; in the event that a request for a call transfer in progress from one of the other cells to the first cell can not be received due to the lack of unused channels, dynamically adjust the specified minimum number of reserved channels in ascending order and queuing the request for a call transfer in progress; and in the case that a request for a call transfer in progress from one of the other cells to the first cell can be served without the need for queuing, serving said request for call transfer in progress and dynamically adjusting the specific minimum number of reserved channels in descending order.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of: in response to a request for call access from a mobile subscriber unit within the first cell, determine whether the number of channels does not used in the first cell has fallen below the specified minimum number reserved to service call transfers in progress; in response to a determination that if the number of unused channels in the first cell has dropped below the specified number of unused channels reserved to service call transfers in progress, queue the request for call access , or block said request for call access, or send a directed recovery; and in response to a determination that the number of unused channels in the first cell has fallen below the specified number reserved to service call transfer in progress, service the call access request and adjust the specified number of reserved channels in descending order, so that a number of unused channels sufficient to service requests for call transfer in progress is dynamically maintained so that it does not unduly restrict requests for calls to units. of mobile subscriber within the first cell.

3. - The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of servicing, in a first form, queued requests for a call transfer in progress as the unused channels become available.

4. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of servicing, in a first form, said queued requests for call access as the unused channels become available as long as the number of unused channels reserved to service call transfer in progress meets or exceeds the specified minimum number.

5 - The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of specifying a minimum number of unused channels further comprises the step of specifying a cardinal number of unused channels.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step dynamically adjusting the specified minimum number of reserved channels upward and the queuing of said request for a call transfer in progress further comprises the step of adding one to said specified minimum number of reserved channels.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of dynamically adjusting the specified minimum number of reserved channels in descending order further comprises the step of subtracting one of said minimum specified number of reserved channels.

8. - An apparatus for use with wireless communication systems having a cellular architecture with a plurality of cells, said apparatus achieving the near real time reservation of channels in a first cell for call transfers in progress from other cells in such a way that the blocked calls that originate within the first cell and the blocked transfer of calls in progress from other cells are maintained within acceptable levels, the apparatus comprises: means to specify a minimum number of unused channels in the first cell that will be reserved to service call transfers in progress; means, which respond to the case in which a request for a call transfer in progress from one of the other cells to the first cell can not have service due to the lack of unused channels, to dynamically adjust the specified minimum number of channels reserved in ascending form and queuing the request for a call transfer in progress; and means, which respond in the event that a request for a call transfer in progress from one of the other cells in the first cell can have service without being queued, to service the request for the call transfer in progress and dynamically adjust the minimum specified number of reserved channels in descending order.

9 - The apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising: means, which respond to a request for call access from a mobile subscriber unit within the first cell, to determine whether a number of channels not used in the first cell has dropped below the specified minimum number reserved to give call transfer service in progress; means, which respond to a determination that said number of unused channels in the first cell has fallen below the specified number of unused channels reserved to service call transfers in progress, to queue the access request Call, or block the request for call access, or send a direct entry; and means, which respond to a determination that the number of unused channels in the first cell has not fallen below the specified number reserved to service call transfers in progress, to service the call access request and adjusting the specified number of reserved channels in descending order, so that a number of unused channels sufficient to service requests for call transfer in progress is dynamically maintained in a manner that does not unduly restrict call requests from the mobile subscriber units within the first cell.

10 - The apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising means for servicing, in a first form, queued requests for a call transfer in progress as the unused channels become available.

11. The apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising means for servicing, in a first form, queued requests for call access as the unused channels become available, provided that the number of unused channels reserved to service call transfer in progress meets or exceeds the specified minimum number.

12. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the means for specifying a minimum number of unused channels further comprises means for specifying a cardinal number of unused channels.

13. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the means for dynamically adjusting the specified minimum number of reserved channels in ascending form and the queuing of the request for a channel transfer in progress also comprises means for adding one. to the specified minimum number of reserved channels.

14. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the means for dynamically adjusting the specified minimum number of reserved channels in descending order further comprises means for subtracting one from the minimum specified number of reserved channels.

15. A program product for use with wireless communication systems having a cellular architecture with a plurality of cells, said program product achieving the near real time reservation of channels in a first cell for call transfers in progress from from other cells such that the blocked calls originating within the first cell and the blocked transfer of Blowings in progress from other cells are kept within acceptable levels, the program product comprising: means to specify a minimum number of channels not used in the first cell that will be reserved to service call transfers in progress; means, which respond to the case that a request for a call transfer in progress from one of the other cells to the first cell can not be serviced due to the lack of unused channels, to dynamically adjust the specified minimum number of reserved channels in ascending form and queuing the request for a call transfer in progress; means, which respond in the event that a request for a call transfer in progress from one of the other cells to the first cell can have service without being queued, to service the request for the call transfer in progress and dynamically adjust the specified minimum number of reserved channels in descending order; and means carrying signals carrying means for specifying means for dynamically adjusting the specified minimum number of reserved channels in ascending order, and means for servicing the call transfer request in progress.

16 - The program product according to claim 15, further comprising: means, responding to a call access request from a mobile subscriber unit within the first cell, to determine whether a number of channels do not used in the first cell has dropped below the specified minimum number reserved to service call transfers in progress; means, which respond to a determination that the number of unused channels in the first cell has fallen below the specified number of unused channels reserved to service call transfers in progress, to queue the access request Call, or block the request for call access, or send a direct entry; means, which respond to a determination that the number of channels not used in the first cell has not fallen below the specified number reserved to service the call transfers in progress, to service the call access request and adjust the specified number of reserved channels in descending order, so that a sufficient number of unused channels to service requests for call transfer in progress is dynamically maintained in a manner that does not unduly restrict the call access requests of the mobile subscriber units within the first cell; and means carrying signals carrying said means for determining whether the number of channels not used in the first cell to fall below the specified minimum number, means for queuing the call access request and means for servicing the request for call access.

17. The program product according to claim 15, wherein the signal-carrying means further comprises recordable means.

18 - The program product according to the claim 15, wherein the means carrying signals also comprise transmission means.

19 - The program product according to claim 16, wherein the means carrying signals further comprises means that can be recorded.

20 - The program product according to the claim 16, wherein the means carrying signals also comprise transmission means.

21 - The program product according to the claim 1 5, further comprising means for servicing, in a first form, queued requests for a call transfer in progress as the unused channels become available.

22 - The program product according to claim 16, further comprising means for servicing, in a first form, queued requests for call overrun as the unused channels become available, provided that the number of unused channels reserved to service call transfer in progress meets or exceeds the specified minimum number.

23. The program product according to claim 15, wherein the means for specifying a minimum number of unused channels further comprises means for specifying a cardinal number of unused channels.

24.- The program product according to claim 15, wherein the means for dynamically adjusting the specified minimum number of reserved channels in ascending order and queuing the request for a call transfer in progress also comprise means for adding one to the specified minimum number of reserved channels.

25. The program product according to claim 15, wherein the means for dynamically adjusting the specified minimum number of reserved channels in descending order further comprises means for subtracting one from the specified minimum number of reserved channels. SUMMARY A method and a system for use with wireless communication systems having a cellular architecture are described, to achieve the near-real-time reservation of channels in a first cell to service call transfers in progress from other cells in a manner that blocked calls originating within the first cell and blocked transfer of calls in progress from other cells are kept within acceptable levels. The method and system specify that a minimum number of channels not used in a first cell can be reserved to service call transfers in progress. In the event that a request for a call transfer in progress from one of the other cells to the first cell can not be serviced due to the lack of unused channels, the specified minimum number of reserved channels is dynamically adjusted in ascending order and the request for a call transfer in progress that can not have service is formed in queue. Queue requests have service in a first form as unused channels become available. In the case where a request for a call transfer in progress from one of the other cells in the first cell can be served without being queued, the specified minimum number of reserved channels is dynamically adjusted in descending order, so that a sufficient number of unused channels to service calls for the transfer of calls in progress is dynamically maintained in a way that does not unduly restrict the call access requests from mobile subscriber units within the first cell.