Abstract: A method and apparatus for changing the electrical characteristics of an antenna in a communications system includes first and second conductive portions separated by a slot. Circuit elements are coupled between the first and second conductive portions, the circuit elements being operably controlled by a bias current to control flow of RF current within the first and second conductive elements, wherein the path of the RF current is directed to be in substantially different locations within the first and second conductive elements.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for assigning location estimates from a first transceiver of a plurality of wireless transceivers to a second transceiver is disclosed. The present invention makes use of a low power short-range auxiliary communication link incorporated within networked devices to interact with nearby devices for obtaining location estimates of the current location of a device. Confidence levels are then assigned to the information obtained from the interactions with the nearby devices, and a determination of whether to update the location estimate is made.

Abstract: In a receiver in a wireless communication system, a plurality of radio frequency signal propagation characteristics associated with a signal transmitted from a transmitter in a coverage area are periodically measured. Next, the plurality of periodically measured radio frequency signal propagation characteristics are processed to produce a time averaged radio frequency signature, wherein the processing extracts the dominant features of the radio frequency signal propagation characteristics. Then the time averaged radio frequency signature is compared with a spatially averaged radio frequency signature, and a figure of merit is generated in response to the comparison.

Abstract: In a wireless communication system, radio frequency signal propagation characteristics associated with a signal transmitted from several locations in the coverage area of the wireless communication system are measured. Next, a plurality of signature regions are defined in the coverage area, wherein the signature regions each contain several selected locations having selected measured radio frequency signal propagation characteristics. For a selected signature region, the associated measured radio frequency signal propagation characteristics are processed to produce a spatially averaged radio frequency signature for the selected signature region. The spatially averaged radio frequency signature represents the dominant features of the radio frequency signal propagation characteristics of a signal transmitted within the selected signature region. Finally, an association between the spatially averaged radio frequency signature and the selected signature region is recorded.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for routing packet data in a communications system. The method includes receiving a first path packet at first node, the first path packet having a content, creating two packets having the content, sending the two packets via different paths to a second node, and creating an estimated packet including an estimate of the content in response to the two packets received at the second node. In addition, a method for providing soft handoff in a cellular communication system is provided, the method including receiving a first path packet at a first node, the first path packet having a content within the first node, creating two packets having the content, sending the two packets to a transmitter, transmitting the two packets via two different radio channels to a second node, and creating an estimated packet including an estimate of the content in response to the two packets received at the second node.

Abstract: In a wireless communication system, a chip time is selected in a complex pseudonoise (PN) sequence generator. For a next chip time following the selected chip time, a phase difference between a previous complex PN chip and a next complex PN chip is restricted to a preselected phase angle. In one embodiment, every other chip time is selected and the preselected angle is 90 degrees.

Abstract: In a digital preprocessing system for processing a digital signal for analog transmission, the digital signal is up-sampled to produce a digital up-sampled signal having signal components in a plurality of Nyquist bands including a first Nyquist band and a plurality of super-Nyquist bands at higher frequencies than the first Nyquist band, wherein the first Nyquist band includes a baseband signal component and a plurality of aliased signal components. Thereafter, one of the plurality of signal components in the first Nyquist band is selected from the digital up-sampled signal.

Abstract: In a wireless communications system having a transmitter that transmits a transmit diversity signal using multiple antennas, a channel quality metric is computed by measuring a first and second diversity branch signal quality for first and second diversity branches in the receiver. Thereafter, the channel quality metric is computed in response to a difference between the first and second diversity branch signal qualities. The first and second diversity branch signal quality measurements may be signal-to-noise measurements. In one embodiment, the channel quality metric is computed by taking a square root of a product of signal-to-noise ratios of the first and second diversity branches in the receiver.

Abstract: In a cellular communication system, a plurality of neighbor scan lists are generated and associated with a selected cell in the cellular communication system, wherein each neighbor scan list includes selected neighbor identifiers. Thereafter, a present operating mode, of a plurality of operating modes, of a subscriber unit communicating with the selected cell is determined. In response to the present operating mode of the subscriber unit, the subscriber unit is configured to scan a neighbor scan list selected from the plurality of neighbor scan lists for the selected cell. The operating modes of the subscriber unit may include an idle mode and an active mode.

Abstract: A method and apparatus is provided for creating a composite waveform. This composite waveform is created by coding a plurality of input digital information signals. Subsequently, the plurality of coded input digital information signals are communicated over a communication medium to a digital combiner. The digital combiner combines the plurality of coded input digital information signals. Finally, the digitally combined information signal is spectrally shaped to form a composite waveform. These composite waveform creation principals may be applied to digitally encoded voice subbands in a subband coding system as well as channel information in a direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) communication system transmitter.

Abstract: Orthogonal transmit diversity is implemented by employing a data splitter (803) to subdivide channel information (801) into at least a first portion of bits (802) and a second portion of bits (804). Each portion is spread with its own Walsh code for eventual transmission to a mobile station via a predetermined carrier frequency. When the number of bits in the first and second portion (802, 804) are small, separate Walsh codes are used to maintain orthogonality. When the number of bits in the first and second portion (802, 804) are relatively large, a time-division multiplex transmission is used to maintain orthogonality. A controller (809) controls the subdivision of the channel information and also an interleaver (308) to further enhance the effects of the diversity transmission. Control information related to the subdivision is transmitted to the mobile station so the channel information can be accurately reconstructed prior to decoding.

Abstract: In a wireless telecommunications system (40), a subscriber unit (44) transmits a request for a data connection (10) to cellular infrastructure equipment (46), wherein the data connection is between the requesting subscriber unit (42) and a data receiver (80,82) coupled to the cellular infrastructure equipment (46) via a public switched telephone network (68). In response to the transmitted request (10), data connection configuration parameters (78) stored in the cellular infrastructure (46) are selected (90), and the data connection is configured (208) according to the selected data configuration parameters. Data connection configuration parameters may include AT commands from the AT command set.

Abstract: In a method for managing resources in a base station in a code division multiple access cellular communication, a resource shortage of a selected resource in a first base station is detected. Next, a subscriber unit having a communication link with the first base station is selected. Thereafter, a handoff direction message is sent to the selected subscriber unit to cause a second base station to contribute the selected resource, wherein the resource shortage in the first base station is alleviated. Resources that may experience shortages in the first base station include transmit power and available user spreading codes.

Abstract: At a receiver location in a wireless communication system service area, a set of characteristics that describe a received ray of a subscriber signal is measured. In a model of the wireless communication system service area, a propagation path of a model ray launched from a location in the model of the wireless communication system service area that corresponds to the receiver location in the wireless communication system service area is determined, wherein the ray has model signal characteristics based upon the set of characteristics that describe the received ray of the subscriber signal. Thereafter, a subscriber location in the wireless communication system service area is estimated in response to the propagation path of the model ray.

Abstract: A communications link having a plurality of communication media is coupled between an originating facsimile machine and a terminating facsimile machine. The plurality of communication media includes a medium having a variable data transmission time followed serially by a media having a constant data transmission time. In the communication link, a transmission mode acceptance message is intercepted from an acceptance-transmitting one of the terminating and originating facsimile machines. The transmission mode acceptance message is modified to form a modified transmission mode acceptance message for increasing a maximum received data rate in the terminating facsimile machine relative to a transmit data rate in the originating facsimile machine.

Abstract: A frequency-hopping communication system preempts certain burst frequency assignments. The communication system is capable of communicating to mobile stations (114, 115) via a radio channel (121) in a TDM/TDMA mode. A plurality of mobile stations are assigned burst frequencies for transmission during timeslots of the TDMA system. To support additional mobile stations without additional burst frequencies, the communication system preempts the burst frequency assignment from the plurality of mobile stations, and utilizes the preempted assignment to support communication to the additional mobile stations.

Abstract: In a cellular communications system having synchronized base stations and unsynchronized base stations, wherein the synchronized base stations are synchronized to system time and have a common pilot PN sequence used for all synchronized pilot channels, a marker sequence is selected. The selected marker sequence is comprised of an M-chip portion of the common pilot PN sequence. Next, a coded portion of an unsynchronized pilot PN sequence is generated wherein the coded portion identifies a selected unsynchronized base station. The marker sequence and the coded portion of the unsynchronized pilot PN sequence are combined to form the unsynchronized pilot PN sequence that is different from the common pilot PN sequence. Thereafter, an unsynchronized pilot channel baseband signal of an unsynchronized base station is spread with the unsynchronized pilot PN sequence to produce the unsynchronized pilot channel.

Abstract: A receiver for use in a wireless communication system, wherein the wireless communication system includes a transmitter that spreads data with multiple spreading codes. The receiver includes a plurality of despreaders for despreading with multiple despreading codes corresponding to the multiple spreading codes in the transmitter. A plurality of demodulators demodulate outputs of the plurality of despreaders, and a demultiplexer demultiplexes the outputs of the plurality of demodulators. A decoder decodes the output of the multiplexer to produce received traffic channel data. The receiver uses a pilot selector for selecting, in response to a control signal, a reference signal for use in the plurality of demodulators. A mode detector that produces the control signal is responsive to the transmitter transmitting in an orthogonal transmit diversity mode or an adaptive array mode.

Abstract: In a model of a wireless communication system service area (160), a set of characteristics associated with the reception of a model signal (210) are calculated (308), preferably using ray-tracing techniques, wherein the model signal (172) is transmitted from a selected location (162) to a receiver location (166). Next, a set of characteristics that describe a received signal at a receiver location in the wireless communication system service area are measured (316), wherein the receiver location corresponds to the receiver location in the model (160). Thereafter, a relationship between the calculated set of characteristics and the measured set of characteristics is determined (318), and the location of the subscriber unit that transmitted the received signal is estimated (320) in response to the relationship between the calculated set of characteristics and the measured set of characteristics.

Abstract: Different orthogonal codes (W.sub.x, W.sub.y) are used to spread common pilot channels (Pilot.sub.A) intended for transmission to a particular mobile station (106) within a coverage area (sector A) to implement forward link transmit diversity. The use of different orthogonal codes (W.sub.x, W.sub.y) for each pilot channel (Pilot.sub.A) allows the mobile station (106) to discern which pilot channel spread with a different orthogonal code includes corresponding traffic channel (TCH) information. This allows forward link transmit diversity to be enable/disabled based on conditions associated with the environment, the communications channel, etc. without a complete loss of information as seen by the mobile station (106).