Method and system for registering the location of a mobile cellular communications device

Claims

We claim:

1. In or for a cellular mobile radiotelephone (CMR) system having an array of cells for communicating with cellular mobile radiotelephones within coverage areas of the array of cells, a data message system for communicating selected data collected from a plurality of data sources, the data message system comprising:

a plurality of mobile data reporting devices, each of the mobile data reporting devices operative for monitoring the data sources to obtain the selected data, and for transmitting a reverse data message formatted as an initialization signal transmitted by one of the cellular mobile radiotelephones for communication via the CMR system;

a mobile switching center (MSC) for receiving the reverse data message via a reverse control channel (RECC) from each of the mobile data reporting devices operating within the coverage areas of the array of cells, and for transmitting a beacon page via a forward control channel (FOCC), wherein:

the beacon page is formatted as a page transmitted by an MSC over the FOCC when an incoming call is placed via the MSC to at least one of the cellular mobile radiotelephones, the beacon page comprising a mobile identification number (MIN),

the MIN is a reserved MIN, and

each mobile data reporting device has a memory for storing a plurality of MINs, at least one of the MINs corresponding to the reserved MIN;

a data collection system for collecting the selected data in response to receiving the reverse data message from the MSC via a communications link;

each of the mobile data reporting devices is further operative to receive the beacon page from the MSC, to compare the beacon page with a previously received beacon page, and to transmit a beacon-responsive signal to the MSC via the RECC when the beacon page is different from the previously received beacon page; and

the MSC is operative to forward the beacon-responsive signal to the data collection system via the communications link, the data collection system responsive to the beacon-responsive signal to determine the CMR system within the coverage areas of which a particular mobile data reporting device is operating.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the MSC is further operative for transmitting a control message via the FOCC; and wherein each mobile data reporting device is further operative to receive the control message, to compare at least a portion of data contained in the control message with previously received data from a previously received control message, and to transmit the beacon-responsive signal when the data is different from the previously received data.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the control message is a System Parameter Overhead Message (SPOM) and the data comprises a system identification number (SID).

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the control message is a Global Action Overhead Message (GAOM) and the data comprises a REGID.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each mobile data reporting device is further operative for transmitting the beacon-responsive signal in response to a failure to receive the beacon page within a predetermined time.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the CMR system comprises a first system and a second system, each having a plurality of FOCCs and corresponding RECCs; and wherein each mobile data reporting device is further operative to communicate using the first system rather than the second system when the mobile data reporting device fails to receive the beacon page via the second system within a predetermined time.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the beacon-responsive signal is formatted as a call origination signal.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the beacon-responsive signal is formatted as an autonomous registration signal.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the MSC is responsive to receiving the beacon-responsive signal to append a system identification number (SID) identifying the CMR system coverage areas in which the mobile data reporting device is located and a switch number identifying the MSC to the beacon-responsive signal and to transmit an appended beacon-responsive signal to the data collection system, thereby enabling the data collection system to transmit a forward data message to the mobile data reporting device responsible for transmitting the beacon-responsive signal by transmitting a page via the CMR system and MSC identified by the appended beacon-responsive signal.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the reserved MIN triggers a response in mobile data reporting devices within the coverage areas of the CMR system transmitting the beacon page rather than comprising a predetermined identifying characteristic of any particular mobile data reporting device.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein each mobile data reporting device is simultaneously responsive to at least one of the plurality of stored MINs to perform a predetermined operation.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the predetermined operation includes transmitting the reverse data message to the MSC via the RECC.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the predetermined operation includes monitoring a particular one of the data sources.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the predetermined operation includes transmitting the beacon-responsive signal to the MSC via the RECC.

15. In or for a first cellular mobile radiotelephone (CMR) system for communicating with cellular mobile radiotelephones within coverage areas of an array of cells, the first CMR system comprising a plurality of mobile data reporting devices, each of the mobile data reporting devices operative for monitoring a plurality of data sources to obtain selected data, and for transmitting a reverse data message containing the selected data; a mobile switching center (MSC) for receiving the reverse data message from each of the mobile data reporting devices operating within the coverage areas of the array of cells; and a data collection system for collecting the selected data in response to receiving the reverse data message from the MSC via a communications link, a method for enabling the data collection system to determine a second CMR system in which a particular one of the mobile data reporting devices is operating, comprising the steps of:

receiving a control message via a forward control channel (FOCC) of the first CMR system;

in response to a failure to receive a control message within a predetermined time, transmitting a responsive signal indicating said failure;

in response to receiving the control message, comparing data contained in the control message to previously received data contained in a previously received control message;

in response to the data contained in the control message being different from the previously received data, transmitting a responsive signal to the MSC via a reverse control channel (RECC) of the second CMR system, and transmitting the responsive signal from the MSC to the data collection system via the communications link;

in response to receiving the responsive signal, determining the second CMR system within the coverage areas of which the particular mobile data reporting device is located.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the control message is a System Parameter Overhead Message (SPOM) and the data comprises a system identification number (SID).

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the control message is a Global Action Overhead Message (GAOM) and the data comprises a REGID.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the second CMR system comprises a first system and a second system, each having a plurality