Abstract: A wireless paging system allows a business to automatically page customers via the customers' existing mobile phones or other wireless devices, using an existing cellular telecommunications network, and without the need to provide a separate local-area paging network. The paging system includes a local, Internet-connected computer deployed at the business and a notification and scheduling program running on the computer. The notification program is directly or indirectly interfaced with the cellular network's short messaging service or the like, through the Internet or otherwise. If a customer has to wait upon arrival for a product and/or service, the customer's mobile phone number is entered into the notification program. Upon receiving data indicating that the product and/or service has become available, e.g., as entered into the local computer by employees, the notification program generates appropriate commands and/or instructions for having a notification message sent to the customer's wireless device.

Abstract: In evaluating the quality of received digital signals in terminals of a mobile communication system, the bit error rate is measured. Each station receives signals in successive data frames which includes a synchronization pattern and stores a version of the synchronization pattern. The received synchronization pattern is compared to the stored synchronization pattern to derive a signal representative of the received signal quality. The quality signal may then be used for hand-off to other base stations or other call transfers. Since the synchronization pattern is included in each data frame, measuring signal quality therefrom obviates the need for system generation and interpretation of special quality messages.

Abstract: A QDPSK communication receiver includes a frequency source, apparatus for translating a received QDPSK signal having inphase I and quadrature phase Q components to baseband and a baseband demodulator. For each symbol period of the baseband QDPSK signal, a signal (I.sub.diff) representative of the inphase component of the phase different between immediately successive received symbols and signal (Q.sub.diff) representative of quadrature phase component of the phase difference between immediately successive received symbols is formed. In order to synchronize the frequency of the receiver frequency source to carried frequency of the received QDPSK signal, a preamble interval is defined during which a sequence of identified symbols is received.