Patent ID: 7813722
Filing Date: 2010-10-12
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for providing enhanced features for advanced voice services in a wireless network, comprising: a wireless communications network for making calls to and from mobile units, wherein the calls are initiated by call setup and in-band signaling within the wireless communications network and voice frames for the calls are switched between the mobile units by at least one mobile switching center across bearer paths in the wireless communications network; and a real-time exchange that interfaces to at least one mobile switching center in the wireless communications network to provide advanced voice services therein, without requiring any changes to the mobile switching center or other equipment of the wireless network to provide the advanced group services; wherein both the real-time exchange and the mobile units that use the advanced voice services communicate with each other using the call setup and in-band signaling within the wireless communications network, such that at least one mobile switching center routes an originating leg of the advanced voice services from an originating mobile unit to the real-time exchange, the real-time exchange initiates one or more terminating legs of the advanced voice services to one or more terminating mobile units through at least one mobile switching center, and the real-time exchange switches the voice frames for the advanced voice services for the mobile units across the bearer paths and through at least one mobile switching center in the wireless communications network; and wherein the enhanced features comprise location-based services (LBS) provided by the real-time exchange for enhancing the calls to and from the mobile units, such that the real-time exchange utilizes position information of the mobile units to provide localized and contextual information, in addition to presence availability, to the mobile units for use by subscribers, and the localized and contextual information comprises locations of the mobile units participating in group communications provided by the advanced voice services.