Patents by Inventor Richard MACKENZIE

Richard MACKENZIE has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 10856213
    Abstract: The disclosure includes a method in a cellular communications network, and a User Equipment, basestation and network management entity for implementing the method, the method comprising: a first basestation transmitting a first message including a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG) identifier; determining, for a User Equipment (UE) whether the CSG identifier is present on a first allowed CSG list; determining the allowed service level for the UE, the allowed service level indicating one of at least a first and second allowed service level; and connecting the UE to the first basestation if the CSG identifier is present on the first allowed CSG list, wherein the Quality of Service (QoS) for the UE is dependent on the allowed service level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: British Telecommunications Public Limited Company
    Inventors: Michael Fitch, Richard MacKenzie
  • Publication number: 20200351770
    Abstract: This disclosure provides a base station, and a method of operating a base station, in a cellular telecommunications network, the base station having normal, compensation and energy saving modes of operation
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 21, 2020
    Publication date: November 5, 2020
    Applicant: British Telecommunications Public Limited Company
    Inventors: Richard MACKENZIE, Michael FITCH
  • Publication number: 20200288372
    Abstract: There is provided a method, and a network node for implementing the method, in a cellular telecommunications network. The cellular telecommunications network includes a first and second base station, the first base station having a first interface for communicating with a first cellular core networking node and a second interface for wirelessly communicating with the second base station, the second base station being mobile and having a first interface for wirelessly communicating with the first base station and a second interface for communicating with a User Equipment (UE), wherein the UE's user traffic is transmitted between the first cellular core networking node and the UE via the first and second base stations.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 27, 2018
    Publication date: September 10, 2020
    Inventors: Richard MACKENZIE, Anvar TUKMANOV, Michael FITCH, Keith BRIGGS
  • Patent number: 10771298
    Abstract: At a mobile terminal: communicating with a serving base station over multicast; receiving a first multicast signal from the serving base station and a second signal from a second base station; determining an indication of the length of a first cyclic prefix of the first multicast signal and an indication of the length of a second cyclic prefix of the second signal; and where the mobile terminal determines that the lengths of the first and second cyclic prefixes are different, initiating a switch in communication between the mobile terminal and the serving base station to unicast. In complementary fashion, at a base station serving a mobile terminal over multicast; sending to the mobile terminal a multicast signal comprising a first cyclic prefix with a first length; receiving from the mobile terminal an indication that the mobile terminal has detected a second cyclic prefix with a second length and switching communicating with the mobile terminal from multicast to unicast.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2020
    Assignee: British Telecommunications Public Limited Company
    Inventors: Zaid Al-Daher, Richard Mackenzie, Michael Fitch
  • Publication number: 20200267505
    Abstract: This disclosure relates to a method in a cellular telecommunications network, and a network node for implementing the method, the cellular telecommunications network including a base station having a coverage area, and a plurality of User Equipment (UE) located within the base station's coverage area, the method including instructing a first plurality of UEs to report their location; associating an occurrence of a connection performance indication for each UE of the first plurality of UEs with a reported location for that UE; defining a first geographical region in which the density of reported locations is above a first density threshold; defining a second geographical region in which the density of reported locations is above a second density threshold, wherein the area of the first geographical region is greater than the area of the second geographical region; instructing a second plurality of UEs within the first geographical region to report their location at a first reporting rate; and instructing a thi
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 6, 2018
    Publication date: August 20, 2020
    Inventors: Farhad MEHRAN, Richard MACKENZIE
  • Patent number: 10728844
    Abstract: This disclosure provides a base station, and a method of operating a base station, in a cellular telecommunications network, the method including a first base station determining to switch to energy saving mode; and the first base station sending a first message to a second base station, the first message including compensation data relating to a third base station that the first base station is acting in compensation mode for.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: British Telecommunications Public Limited Company
    Inventors: Richard Mackenzie, Michael Fitch
  • Patent number: 10728843
    Abstract: This disclosure provides a base station, and a method of operating a base station, in a cellular telecommunications network, the base station having normal, compensation and energy saving modes of operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: British Telecommunications Public Limited Company
    Inventors: Richard Mackenzie, Michael Fitch
  • Patent number: 10728714
    Abstract: A base station for a mobile communications network is disclosed, in which the base station includes a plurality of transmitters, in which each transmitter is configured to provide transmit radio signals to a plurality of mobile terminals; and a plurality of receivers, in which each receiver is configured to detect receive radio signals from the plurality of mobile terminals. The base station also includes a processor configured to interrogate each of the plurality of the mobile terminals for an indication of signal quality of a signal received by the mobile terminal; and to assign each of the plurality of the mobile terminals to one of two groups based on the received indications of signal quality. The mobile terminals assigned to the first group are those that indicate relatively low signal quality and the mobile terminals assigned to the second group are those that indicate relatively high signal quality.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: British Telecommunications Public Limited Company
    Inventors: Zaid Al-Daher, Richard Mackenzie, Michael Fitch
  • Patent number: 10645632
    Abstract: A method and device are provided for allocating a Physical Cell ID, PCI, to a cell, the 5 cell being one of a plurality of cells (e.g. femtocells) within a coverage area of a larger cell's (e.g. macrocell) base station, comprising defining a plurality of bands for the larger cell based on signal strength data from the plurality of cells within the coverage area, wherein each band has a predetermined signal strength range, and allocating a PCI to a cell based on a strength of signal from the larger cell's base station and its 10 corresponding band of the plurality of bands.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY
    Inventors: Richard Mackenzie, Michael Fitch
  • Publication number: 20200106516
    Abstract: A method of operating a cellular telecommunications network, the cellular telecommunications network including a first base station, a User Equipment (UE) and a remote transceiver, wherein the first base station is adapted to send a signal to the UE, the method including receiving data from an external sensor indicating a first change in a propagation environment between the first base station and the UE; and, in response, the remote transceiver repeating a signal between the first base station and the UE.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 13, 2017
    Publication date: April 2, 2020
    Applicant: British Telecommunications Public Limited Company
    Inventors: Farhad Mehran, Richard Mackenzie, Anvar Tukmanov
  • Publication number: 20200084710
    Abstract: The disclosure includes a method in a cellular communications network, and a User Equipment, basestation and network management entity for implementing the method, the method including a first basestation transmitting a first message including a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG) identifier; determining, for a User Equipment (UE) whether the CSG identifier is present on a first allowed CSG list; determining the allowed service level for the UE, the allowed service level indicating one of at least a first and second allowed service level; and connecting the UE to the first basestation if the CSG identifier is present on the first allowed CSG list, wherein the Quality of Service (QoS) for the UE is dependent on the allowed service level.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 18, 2019
    Publication date: March 12, 2020
    Applicant: British Telecommunications Public Limited Company
    Inventors: Michael FITCH, Richard MACKENZIE
  • Publication number: 20200029275
    Abstract: This disclosure provides a base station, and a method of operating a base station, in a cellular telecommunications network, the method including a first base station determining to switch to energy saving mode; and the first base station sending a first message to a second base station, the first message including compensation data relating to a third base station that the first base station is acting in compensation mode for.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 29, 2017
    Publication date: January 23, 2020
    Applicant: British Telecommunications Public Limited Company
    Inventors: Richard MACKENZIE, Michael FITCH
  • Publication number: 20190364480
    Abstract: This disclosure relates to a method of operating a cellular telecommunications network, and to a first base station and a UE for implementing the method, the method including receiving data from an external sensor indicating a first change in a propagation environment between the UE and the base station; and, in response, reconfiguring a connectivity property for the UE.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 13, 2017
    Publication date: November 28, 2019
    Applicant: British Telecommunications Public Limited Company
    Inventors: Farhad Mehran, Richard Mackenzie, Anvar Tukmanov, Michael Fitch, Keith Briggs
  • Publication number: 20190342799
    Abstract: A method and a base station for a mobile communications network. The base station includes a first transceiver configured to communicate over radio signals with a plurality of mobile terminals, in which the first transceiver configured to: transmit a first signal to serve a mobile terminal over multicast; receive from the mobile terminal information derived from the signal quality of a second signal received at the mobile terminal from a second transceiver; and receive from the mobile terminal further information on the quality of the first signal received at the mobile terminal from the first transceiver and on the quality of a third signal received at the mobile terminal from a third transceiver.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 23, 2017
    Publication date: November 7, 2019
    Applicant: British Telecommunications Public Limited Company
    Inventors: Richard MACKENZIE, Zaid AL-DAHER, Michael FITCH
  • Publication number: 20190313329
    Abstract: This disclosure provides a base station, and a method of operating a base station, in a cellular telecommunications network, the base station having normal, compensation and energy saving modes of operation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 29, 2017
    Publication date: October 10, 2019
    Applicant: British Telecommunications Public Limited Company
    Inventors: Richard MACKENZIE, Michael FITCH
  • Patent number: 10405280
    Abstract: A method of operating a first base station in a cellular telecommunications network, the cellular telecommunications network further including a second base station, in order to autonomously create a detection scenario for a Physical Cell Identifier (PCI) conflict between the first and second base station, includes the first base station transmitting at a first maximum transmit power about a first coverage area for a first period of time; the first base station transmitting at a second maximum transmit power about a second coverage area for a second period of time, the second coverage area being larger than the first coverage area and the second period of time being shorter than the first period of time; and then the first base station returning to the first maximum transmit power.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2019
    Assignee: British Telecommunications Public Limited Company
    Inventors: Richard Mackenzie, Michael Fitch
  • Publication number: 20190268197
    Abstract: At a mobile terminal: communicating with a serving base station over multicast; receiving a first multicast signal from the serving base station and a second signal from a second base station; determining an indication of the length of a first cyclic prefix of the first multicast signal and an indication of the length of a second cyclic prefix of the second signal; and where the mobile terminal determines that the lengths of the first and second cyclic prefixes are different, initiating a switch in communication between the mobile terminal and the serving base station to unicast. In complementary fashion, at a base station serving a mobile terminal over multicast; sending to the mobile terminal a multicast signal comprising a first cyclic prefix with a first length; receiving from the mobile terminal an indication that the mobile terminal has detected a second cyclic prefix with a second length and switching communicating with the mobile terminal from multicast to unicast.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 19, 2017
    Publication date: August 29, 2019
    Applicant: British Telecommunications Public Limited Company
    Inventors: Zaid AL-DAHER, Richard MACKENZIE, Michael FITCH
  • Publication number: 20190261267
    Abstract: This disclosure provides a base station, and a method of operating a base station, in a cellular telecommunications network, the method including the first base station operating in energy saving mode; the first base station receiving a first message, the first message instructing the first base station to exit energy saving mode and to compensate for a second base station; and the first base station exiting energy saving mode and compensating for the second base station.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 29, 2017
    Publication date: August 22, 2019
    Applicant: British Telecommunications Public Limited Company
    Inventors: Richard MACKENZIE, Michael FITCH
  • Publication number: 20190246329
    Abstract: In a cellular telecommunications system, outage management is managed in respect of each cell B by a nominated neighbor cell A, the identity of which is recorded in a neighbor list for cell B. If a cell C, D, other than the nominated neighbor, detects a suspected outage in a cell B, the cell detecting the outage identifies the nominated neighbor A from the neighbor list of cell B, and transmits an outage report to the nominated neighbor cell A, which coordinates a handover and outage management process. This avoids multiple detections of the same outage resulting in conflicting attempts to manage the recovery process.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 4, 2017
    Publication date: August 8, 2019
    Applicant: British Telecommunications Public Limited Company
    Inventors: Dalia ABOUELMAATI, Richard MACKENZIE, Michael FITCH
  • Publication number: 20190246284
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method and apparatus for configuring multi-level cells or cell clusters and a communications system. The method includes: exchanging by a base station with one or more other base stations or cell cluster heads in the same level to obtain first information; receiving, by the base station, second information reported by one or more base stations or cell cluster heads in the lower level; configuring one or more cells in the lower level into a cell cluster by the base station according to the first information and the second information, and determining a cluster head of the cell cluster; and performing information transmission with the cluster head of the cell cluster.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 22, 2017
    Publication date: August 8, 2019
    Applicant: British Telecommunications Public Limited Company
    Inventors: Richard MACKENZIE, Yang YANG, Mo HAO