Patent ID: 9467835
Filing Date: 2016-10-11
CPC Classification: H04B,H04W

Claim Text:
1. A method for managing a relay service in a public safety wireless communication system, the method comprising: determining, at a second mobile device, a first mobile device is not receiving a signal from a wide area network of acceptable signal quality; activating a relay service at the second mobile device; in response to activating the relay service, announcing, by the second mobile device, an availability of the relay service at the second mobile device; in response to announcing the availability of the relay service, receiving, by the second mobile device, a registration of the first mobile device for the relay service; in response to receiving the registration, relaying, by the second mobile device, communications between the first mobile device and an access node; wherein determining that the first mobile device is not receiving a signal from a wide area network (WAN) of acceptable signal quality comprises: determining a strength of a signal received by the second mobile device from the WAN; and based on the determined strength of the signal, estimating a strength of a signal received by the first mobile device from the WAN.