The invention relates generally to cellular communication networks and, more particularly, to wired access to a cellular network.
As cellular telephone service has increased, a need has arisen for a single telephony system that can service a subscriber both at his home, that is, fixed-base, or stationary, and when he is away from home, or mobile.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,412,760 and 5,528,665, issued to Peitz, describe a telephone system for both mobile and stationary subscribers, in which the stationary subscribers are not assigned permanent channel pairs, but rather ate treated as the mobile subscribers, and are assigned channel pairs at the time a telephone connection is made. All connection channel pairs are within the frequency spectrum of the broad band cable connecting the stationary subscribers.
However, the Peitz patents do not contemplate using unshielded copper pair telephone lines normally used for ISDN basic rate service. Rather, they teach installing new digital, preferably fiber optic, cables to subscribers"" homes.
Analog cellular telephone service originally developed independently in various countries, each country""s equipment and service incompatible with the others"". The Europeans eventually agreed on standards for digital cellular telephone service, called xe2x80x9cGSMxe2x80x9d (xe2x80x9cGlobal System For Mobile Communicationsxe2x80x9d). The European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI) published phase I of the GSM specifications in 1990. ETSI published some GSM Technical Specifications, version 5.1.0, in March, 1996.
A need exists for a single telephone system for both mobile and stationary subscribers, which uses unshielded copper pair telephone lines normally used for ISDN basic rate service, and which is compatible with the GSM standards.
The present invention, accordingly, provides a system and method to enable communication between a base station controller within a cellular network, and a wired telephone system in a wired subscriber loop, wherein the base station controller is responsive to, and generates, cellular network signaling, and the wired telephone system is responsive to, and generates, wired signals. The system comprises a protocol processor receptive to the wired signals, for generating processed signals; and a terminal adapter controller conductively coupled both to the base station controller and to the protocol processor, receptive to the processed signals, for generating cellular network signaling.
In another feature of the invention, the cellular network signaling is GSM signaling. In another feature of the invention, the system also includes a voice service module conductively coupled to the protocol processor, for compressing voice data to standard cellular compression. In another feature of the invention, the system also includes means for converting mobility events in the wired telephone system to cellular network signaling.
The invention achieves a technical advantage in that it provides the same services to wireline subscribers as it provides to mobile subscribers.
The invention achieves another technical advantage in that it uses existing local loop with services provided by an existing MSC, so that an operator has to add neither wireline switching capabilities, nor use cellular radio frequency transmission spectrum for local loop service.
The invention achieves another technical advantage in that it provides standard interfaces for analog and ISDN BRI telephone sets, so that subscribers may use their existing telephone sets.
The invention achieves another technical advantage in that it complies with the A-bis interface from a base transceiver station to a base station controller, so that there is no change required in the construction or operation of 1) the base station controller, and 2) a mobile services switching center.