WO2011090456A1

WO2011090456A1 - A broadband ip-dect apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2011090456A1
Application number: PCT/US2010/000127
Authority: WO
Inventors: Thomas Patrick Newberry
Original assignee: Thomson Licensing
Priority date: 2010-01-20
Filing date: 2010-01-20
Publication date: 2011-07-28

Abstract

A repeater expands a communication range of a home gateway to include a plurality of digital enhanced cordless telecommunications (DECT) terminals that are outside of a wireless range of the home gateway. The repeater includes a network interface for facilitating a network connection with the home gateway, wherein the home gateway provides internet protocol (IP) services to the plurality of DECT terminals outside of the home gateway wireless range but within a communication range of the DECT repeater, a processor for processing data packets of the IP services and DECT signals received from the plurality of DECT terminals, and a DECT base station for communicating with the DECT terminals.

Description

A BROADBAND IP-DECT APPARATUS

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention generally relates to techniques for expanding the range of digital enhanced cordless telecommunications (DECT) receivers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The digital enhanced cordless telecommunications (DECT) family of standards defines a DECT terminal (or handset) and a DECT base station. The DECT base station allows one or more DECT terminals to access a fixed telecoms network via radio. In most cases the base station connection is to the public switched telephone network, telephone jack, or connectivity using a voice over internet protocol (IP).

Newer technologies have been developed to provide IP data services in addition to voice services to DECT terminals. For example, IP data services may include emails, text and multimedia messages, and browsing the Internet. These features are enabled by a home gateway which may be, for example, broadband customer premise equipment (CPE).

The home gateway typically includes a DECT base station which may embed session initiation protocol (SIP) functionality. The DECT terminals receive voice and data transmitted by the DECT base station. The home gateway also includes an Ethernet connection to provide an access to the local area network, further providing access to the Internet.

The communication range between a home gateway and DECT terminals is limited by the range of the DECT base station. That is, when DECT terminals are outside the communication range of the base station they cannot receive signals from the home gateway. This is further illustrated in Fig. 1 where a home gateway 1 10 can communicate only with DECT terminals 120 and 130 which are within a DECT range 00. The DECT terminal 140 is out of the DECT range 100, thus cannot receive any services from the home gateway 100. The DECT range 100 is defined by the range of DECT base station (not shown) embedded in the home gateway SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Certain embodiments of the invention include an apparatus for expanding a communication range of a home gateway to include a plurality of digital enhanced cordless telecommunications (DECT) terminals outside of the home gateway wireless communication range. The apparatus includes - a network interface for facilitating a network connection with the home gateway, a processor for processing data packets of internet protocol (IP) services and DECT signals received from the plurality of DECT terminals outside of the home gateway wireless communication range, and a DECT base station for communicating with the DECT terminals outside of the home gateway wireless communication range.

Certain embodiments of the invention also include a method for expanding a communication range of a home gateway to include a plurality of digital enhanced cordless telecommunications (DECT) terminals outside of the home gateway wireless communication range. The method includes establishing a private communication channel between the home gateway and a repeater, reporting to the home gateway DECT terminals registered in the repeater, and sending to the home gateway an incoming request for an internet protocol (IP) service received from at least one DECT terminal, wherein the incoming request is sent over the private communication channel. The method also includes a processing of data packets received in response to the incoming request to generate DECT signals, and

transmitting the DECT signals to the at least one DECT terminal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter that is regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a diagram of a network including a home gateway and DECT terminals. Figure 2 is a diagram of a network illustrating an embodiment of the invention for expanding the range of DECT terminals.

Figure 3 is a block diagram of a DECT repeater constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 4 is a flowchart describing a process for expanding the range of DECT terminals implemented in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

It is important to note that the embodiments disclosed by the invention are only examples of the many advantageous uses of the innovative teachings herein. In general, statements made in the specification of the present application do not necessarily limit any of the various claimed inventions. Moreover, some statements may apply to some inventive features but not to others. In general, unless otherwise indicated, singular elements may be in plural and vice versa with no loss of generality. In the drawings, like numerals refer to like parts through several views.

Fig. 2 shows an exemplary network 200 utilized to describe the principles of the invention for increasing the range of DECT terminals. The network 200 includes a home gateway 210 and a DECT repeater 220 and a number of DECT terminals 230, 240 and 250. As described in detail above, the home gateway 210 includes a DECT base station and a network interface to a broadband/local network. The DECT range 201 is defined by the range of the DECT base station embedded in the home gateway 210.

In accordance with certain embodiments of the invention, in order to expand the DECT range 201 to enable the DECT terminal 250 to receive IP services, a DECT repeater 220 is connected to the home gateway 210. The connection can be facilitated through a broadband network or a local network. The local network connectivity may be achieved using

communication standards including, but not limited to, the Ethernet, IEEE 802.11x, home phoneline networking alliance (HPNA), multimedia over coax alliance (MoCA®), and the like. Once the DECT repeater 220 and the home gateway 210 are connected IP services can be delivered to the DECT repeater. That is, DECT terminals (e.g., terminal 250) in a DECT range 202 receive IP services through the home gateway 210. The IP services include at least one of data over IP, voice over IP, and video over IP. The process for serving DECT terminals that are in the range of the DECT repeater 220 is described in detail with reference to Fig. 4. The DECT repeater 220 can support a plurality of DECT terminals that are normally outside of the home gateway 210 wireless communication range.

It should be noted that the home gateway 210 and DECT repeater 220 may be placed in proximity to each other (e.g., in the same home) or may be physically distributed to be separate from each other (e.g., in a multi-dwelling unit). In both configurations there is at least one DECT terminal that is in the DECT range of either the home gateway 210 or DECT repeater 220.

Fig. 3 shows an exemplary and non-limiting block diagram of the DECT repeater 220 constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. The DECT repeater 220 is an IP device adapted to communicate with the home gateway 210 to receive IP services destined to the DECT repeater terminals, such as DECT 250.

The DECT repeater 220 includes a base station 310, a network interface 320 for interfacing with a local network, a processor 330, and a memory unit 340. The base station 310 comprises a DECT baseband module 3 1 and a DECT radio frequency (RF) module 312 for facilitating the communication with DECT terminals and the repeater 220. The DECT base station 310 also detects a new DECT terminal and registers the new DECT terminal to the home gateway 210.

The processor 330 processes IP services encapsulated in IP packets to signals, compliant with the DECT standards, which can be transmitted to DECT terminals via the base station 310. The IP packets may include, for example, voice streams and web pages (e.g., wireless markup language pages) and are received through the network interface 320. In addition, the processor 330 processes signals (e.g., voice signal or data requests), receives from DECT terminals via the base station 310, to generate IP packets to be sent to the home gateway 210 through the network interface 320. The memory unit 340 stores at least the processing results and information managed by the DECT repeater 220.

The network interface 320 may communicate with any type of a local network that employing an IP. Such networks include, but are not limited to, Ethernet, MoCA, HPNA, powerline, WiFi, and the like. The network interface 320 may include a plurality of interfaces, each of which supports a different type of network. For example, the network interface 320 may provide connectivity to the Ethernet and WiFi based networks. Thus, a connection between the home gateway and the DECT repeater 220 is facilitated through the network interface. The subscriber line interface circuit (SLIC) 350 and the RJ11 connector 355 provide interface for an analog phone connection.

Fig. 4 shows an exemplary and non-limiting flowchart 400 describing the process for expanding the range of DECT terminals. The process allows "out-of-range" terminals to receive IP services from a home gateway (e.g., home gateway 210) through to a DECT repeater (e.g., repeater 220).

At S410, a private communication channel is established between the home gateway and the DECT repeater. This channel is utilized to transfer information including, for example, DECT terminals registered in the repeater, requests for services, IP packets, and so on.

At S420 a login request is sent from the repeater to the home gateway. At S430, upon acknowledgment of the login request, terminals registered in the DECT repeaters are reported to the home gateway. The home gateway maintains a list of DECT terminals attached to the repeater. It should be noted that when a new DECT terminal is detected by the DECT repeater it registers the DECT terminal and informs the home gateway on the detected terminal. The DECT terminal is identified at least by a terminal identifier. At S440, when a service request is received from a DECT terminal (e.g., terminal 250), the DECT repeater forwards the request to the home gateway. The DECT repeater waits for an acknowledgment message from the home gateway.

The home gateway, upon reception of the request, authorizes the request and routes it to the desired source. For example, if the request is for a web page, it will be routed to a web server having an address (e.g., a uniform resource locator (URL)) designated in the request. A request for a voice service is handled by a VoIP application executed by the home gateway. Generally, this application registers the requesting DECT terminal with a session initiation protocol (SIP) server using the SIP. The home gateway binds a SIP server with a DECT terminal using a SIP uniform resource indicator (URI) and the terminal identifier. The DECT terminal uses the DECT terminal identifier when sending a request to the DECT repeater. The home gateway then translates the DECT terminal identifier to the SIP URI and sends the packet to the SIP server. Packets received from a server (e.g., a SIP server or web server) are forwarded, by the home gateway, to the DECT repeater.

At S450, the DECT repeater receives data packets of the requested services and acknowledges the reception of such packets. At S460, the DECT repeater processes the received packets to generate DECT compliant signals which are transmitted, at S470, to the DECT terminal requesting the service.

The foregoing detailed description has set forth a few of the many forms that the invention can take. It is intended that the foregoing detailed description be understood as an illustration of selected forms that the invention can take and not as a limitation to the definition of the invention. It is only the claims, including all equivalents that are intended to define the scope of this invention.

Most preferably, the principles of the invention are implemented as any combination of hardware, firmware and software. Moreover, the software is preferably implemented as an application program tangibly embodied on a program storage unit or computer readable medium. One of ordinary skilled in the art would recognize that a "machine readable medium" is a medium capable of storing data and can be in a form of a digital circuit, an analog circuit or combination thereof. The application program may be uploaded to, and executed by, a machine comprising any suitable architecture.

Preferably, the machine is implemented on a computer platform having hardware such as one or more central processing units ("CPUs"), a memory, and input/output interfaces. The computer platform may also include an operating system and microinstruction code. The various processes and functions described herein may be either part of the microinstruction code or part of the application program, or any combination thereof, which may be executed by a CPU, whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown. In addition, various other peripheral units may be connected to the computer platform such as an additional data storage unit and a printing unit.

Claims

1. An apparatus for expanding a communication range of a home gateway to include a plurality of digital enhanced cordless telecommunications (DECT) terminals outside of the home gateway wireless communication range, the apparatus comprising:

a network interface for facilitating a network connection with the home gateway;

a processor for processing data packets of internet protocol (IP) services and DECT signals received from the plurality of DECT terminals outside of the home gateway wireless communication range; and

a DECT base station for communicating with the DECT terminals outside of the home gateway wireless communication range.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:

a memory unit for storing at least management information.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the IP services include at least one of: voice over IP (VoIP), video over IP, and data over IP.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is a DECT repeater, wherein the apparatus and the home gateway communicate over a network, and wherein the network is at least one of a local area network and a wide area network.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor receives the data packets through the network interface and processes the data packets to generate DECT signals.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the processor receives the DECT signals from the DECT base station and processes the DECT signals to generate new data packets.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the DECT base station detects a new DECT terminal and registers the new DECT terminal to the home gateway.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the DECT base station further comprises a DECT baseband module and a DECT radio frequency (RF) module.

9. A method for expanding a communication range of a home gateway to include a plurality of digital enhanced cordless telecommunications (DECT) terminals outside of the home gateway wireless communication range, the method comprising:

establishing a private communication channel between the home gateway and a repeater;

reporting to the home gateway DECT terminals registered in the repeater;

sending to the home gateway an incoming request for an internet protocol (IP) service received from at least one DECT terminal, wherein the incoming request is sent over the private communication channel;

processing data packets received in response to the incoming request to generate DECT signals; and

transmitting the DECT signals to the at least one DECT terminal.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

sending a login request to the home gateway.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein processing the data packets received in response to the incoming request further comprises:

sending an acknowledgment (ACK) message to the home gateway.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the IP service include at least one of: voice over IP (VoIP), video over IP, and data over IP.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the private communication channel is established over a network, wherein the network is at least one of a local area network and a wide area network.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein reporting to the home gateway further comprises: detecting new DECT terminal in a communicating range of the DECT repeater.

15. A computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by a computer, perform a method for expanding a

communication range of a home gateway to include a plurality of digital enhanced cordless telecommunications (DECT) terminals outside of the wireless range of the home gateway, the method comprising:

reporting to the home gateway DECT terminals registered in the repeater;

transmitting the DECT signals to the at least one DECT terminal.