Abstract:
A portable wireless system is described. The portable wireless system has a controller that is operable to selectively configure the portable wireless system as a personal electronic appliance or a third party wireless repeater that is configured to relay wireless signals between a third party electronic appliance and a wireless network. Accordingly, the portable wireless system (e.g., a cellular telephone, a pager or a personal digital assistant) may act as a wireless repeater for third party wireless communications when the portable wireless system otherwise is not in use. In this way, the portable wireless system increases the utilization of existing wireless network infrastructures (e.g., a cellular telephone network) by making one or more unused wireless channels available to other devices. A novel incentives-based business model that encourages owners of portable electronic appliances to fully utilize existing wireless network capacity also is described.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This invention relates to systems and methods for relaying third party wireless communications through a portable wireless system. 
     BACKGROUND 
     A wide variety of different portable wireless systems, such as cellular telephones, pagers and wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs), have been developed to enable users to communicate without being tied to a particular physical location. A cellular telephone network may be used by owners of such devices to wirelessly transmit voice and data communications to others connected to the network. Examples of cellular telephone networks include AMPS, D-AMPS, GSM, and IS-95 (CDMA). Such cellular telephone networks typically include a plurality of base stations each serving the cellular telephones within their geographic area, one or more base station controllers, and at least one mobile switching center. In general, a cellular telephone network covers a specific geographic area that typically is divided into cells (or regions). Each cell is allocated one or more voice/data channels or traffic/control channels, or both. A cellular telephone network usually has a broadcast channel on which all cellular telephones may obtain system information from the base stations or measure signal strength or signal quality, or both. A cellular telephone call is handed off from one cell (the serving cell) to a neighboring cell based upon the relative signal strength or quality between the cellular telephone and the base stations of the neighboring cells. 
     A number of different cellular telephone systems have been proposed. For example, many different multi-mode cellular telephones that switch between different types of telecommunication networks have been proposed. In one such system, a cellular telephone is configured to switch from a cellular telephone system to a wireline cordless telephone system when the cellular telephone is within range of a cordless telephone base station. Other cellular telephone systems allow an electronic appliance, such as a handheld computer or a laptop computer with an appropriate interface card, to transmit data over a wireless cellular telephone communication channel. The electronic appliance may be cellular-enabled or it may be coupled to a cellular telephone through a wired or wireless connection. 
     Recently, several low-power and low-cost wireless interfaces between electronic appliances have been proposed. For example, Bluetooth is a recently proposed universal wireless interface that operates within the ISM band (2.4-2.48 GHz) and allows portable electronic appliances to connect and communicate over short-range, ad hoc networks. A Bluetooth-enabled electronic appliance may communicate simultaneously with up to seven other similarly enabled electronic appliances to form a small local radio network. Among the applications that have been proposed for Bluetooth and other wireless interfaces are a three-in-one phone, an untethered computer, and a universal remote. A three-in-one could be used as a standard cellular phone, using a wireless carrier service. The phone also could be used as a cordless phone through a Bluetooth access point that is connected to a conventional wired telephone network. Finally, the phone could also be used as an intercom with direct point-to-point communications with similar devices, without involving any wireless carrier service. An untethered computer (e.g., a laptop computer) could be connected to a network such as the Internet via a Bluetooth modem access point. The modem access point would provide connectivity to the network in the normal fashion, such as over cellular telephony channels, telephone lines, cable or ISDN, but the computer would not be connected physically to the modem. A universal remote may be any Bluetooth device (e.g., a PDA or smartphone) that could be used to query and control other Bluetooth devices within communication range of the universal remote. Still other applications for such wireless interfaces have been proposed. 
     SUMMARY 
     The invention features a scheme (systems and methods) for selectively configuring a portable wireless system as a personal electronic appliance or a third party wireless repeater that is configured to relay wireless signals between a third party electronic appliance and a wireless network. The invention enables a personal electronic appliance (e.g., a cellular telephone, a pager or a personal digital assistant) to act as a wireless repeater for third party wireless communications when the personal electronic appliance otherwise is not in use. In this way, the inventive portable wireless system increases the utilization of existing wireless network infrastructures (e.g., a cellular telephone network) by making one or more unused wireless channels available to other devices. In addition, the invention features a novel incentives-based business model that encourages owners of portable electronic appliances to fully utilize existing wireless network capacity. 
     In one aspect, the invention features a controller that is operable to selectively configure the portable wireless system as a portable electronic appliance or a third party wireless repeater that is configured to relay wireless signals between a third party electronic appliance and a wireless telecommunication network. 
     Embodiments in accordance with this aspect of the invention may include one or more of the following features. 
     The controller may be operable to selectively configure the portable wireless system as a personal electronic appliance or a third party wireless repeater in response to a received mode selection signal. The mode selection signal may be embedded in a received wireless communication signal or the mode selection signal may be received from a mode selection switch of the portable wireless system. In some embodiments, the controller is operable to enable the portable wireless system to relay third party wireless signals whenever the portable wireless system is available. 
     The controller preferably is operable to wirelessly seek and detect appropriately configured third party portable electronic appliances. The controller may be operable to transmit an indication that the portable wireless system is available as a wireless repeater for third party communications. 
     The system may include a short range wireless communication system for communicating with third party portable electronic appliances, and a long range wireless communication system for communicating with the wireless telecommunication network. The short range wireless communication system and the long range wireless communication system each may include an antenna, an RF receiver, and an RF transmitter. 
     In some embodiments, the controller may be configured to wirelessly solicit payment directly from the third party electronic appliance. 
     In another aspect, the invention features a wireless telephony method in accordance with which an incentive is provided to a portable wireless system owner in response to a received third party communication that is relayed by the portable wireless system. 
     Embodiments in accordance with this aspect of the invention may include one or more of the following features. 
     The incentive may be provided to the portable wireless system owner based upon a received portable wireless system identifier. The incentive may be in the form of a discounted wireless service price or a coupon, or may correspond to provision of the portable wireless system free of charge. 
     Preferably it is determined whether a received wireless communication corresponds to a relayed third party communication. 
     A fee may be charged to an owner of a third party electronic appliance that transmitted the received third party communication. In some embodiments, payment may be transmitted to the portable wireless system from a third party electronic appliance that transmitted the received third party communication. In these embodiments, the portable wireless system may solicit payment from the third party electronic appliance. 
     Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description, including the drawings and the claims. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a portable wireless system relaying wireless signals between a third party electronic appliance and a wireless telecommunication network. 
         FIG. 2  is flow diagram of a wireless telephony method of relaying wireless signals between a third party electronic appliance and a wireless telecommunication network. 
         FIG. 3  is a flow diagram of a method by which a wireless service provider may handle third party communications that are relayed by a portable wireless system. 
         FIG. 4  is a block diagram of a relay-enabled portable wireless system. 
         FIG. 5A  is diagrammatic front view of a portable electronic appliance. 
         FIG. 5B  is a block diagram of components of the portable electronic appliance of  FIG. 5A . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In the following description, like reference numbers are used to identify like elements. Furthermore, the drawings are intended to illustrate major features of exemplary embodiments in a diagrammatic manner. The drawings are not intended to depict every feature of actual embodiments nor relative dimensions of the depicted elements, and are not drawn to scale. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , in one embodiment, a portable wireless system  10  (a cellular, telephone in the illustrated embodiment) is selectively configurable between a personal electronic appliance mode of operation and a third party wireless repeater mode of operation. In the personal electronic appliance mode, portable wireless system  10  operates as a conventional personal electronic appliance (e.g., a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, a pager, a PDA, a digital audio player, or a laptop computer). In the third party wireless repeater mode, portable wireless system  10  is configured to relay wireless signals  12 ,  14  between a third party electronic appliance  16  and a wireless network  18 . As used herein, a “third party” device refers to a device that is not specifically authorized to utilize the wireless channel that is established between portable wireless system  10  and wireless network  18 , and is not registered in advance with portable wireless system  10 . Third party electronic appliance  16  may be any conventional electronic appliance that is configured to communicate wirelessly with portable wireless system  10 , including a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, a pager, a PDA, a digital audio player, or a laptop computer. 
     Portable wireless system  10  may communicate with third party electronic appliance  16  over one or more radio frequency (RF) or infrared (IR) communication channels in accordance with a particular communication protocol (or interface). The RF communication channels typically may lie within the 46-49 MHz frequency band, the 902-928 MHz frequency band, or the 2.4-2.48 GHz frequency band. The RF communication protocol may be any of the low-power radio communication protocols that have been proposed, including the Bluetooth communication protocol and the IEEE 802.11 (radio-LAN) communication protocol. An example of an IR communication protocol is the IrDA (Infrared Data Association) communication protocol. Portable wireless system  10  may communicate with wireless network  18  over one or more conventional radio frequency (RF) communication channels (e.g., a conventional cellular or a 3G or 4G wireless communication channel) in accordance with a conventional RF communication protocol (e.g., the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)). 
     Through the wireless communication channel established by portable wireless system  10  between third party electronic appliance  16  and wireless network  18 , third party electronic appliance  16  may access a wide variety of different services that are provided by one or more service providers that are connected directly or indirectly to wireless network  18 . For example, third party electronic appliance  16  may access services offered by a service provider  20 , which is connected directly to wireless network  18 . Third party electronic appliance  16  also may access services offered by service providers  22 ,  24 , which are connected indirectly to wireless network  18  through a computer network  26  (e.g., the Internet) and a voice network  28 , respectively. Among the kinds of services that may be accessed by third party electronic appliance  16  are data services, voice services, pager services, voice mail services, chatline services, and voice services. By acting as a wireless repeater for such third party wireless communications, portable wireless system  10  increases the utilization of existing wireless network infrastructures (e.g., a cellular telephone network) by making one or more unused wireless channels available to other devices. 
     In some embodiments, in addition to the indirect connection through portable wireless system  10 , third party electronic appliance may be configured to establish its own direct connection  30  to wireless network  18 . In these embodiments, the indirect connection  12 ,  14  through portable wireless system  10  may be used to increase the effective wireless bandwidth available to third party electronic appliance  16 . 
     As explained in detail below, in some embodiments, portable wireless system  10  may be configured as a wireless repeater whenever the system is available (e.g., turned on and not using wireless communication channel  14 ). Alternatively, a mode selection switch may be provided to allow a user to selectively configure portable wireless system  10  as a personal electronic appliance or a third party wireless repeater. In still other embodiments, a mode selection signal may be transmitted by the wireless service provider to configure personal wireless system  10  as a third party wireless repeater when it is available (e.g., turned on and not using wireless communication channel  14 ). In these embodiments, the ability to selectively transmit mode selection signals to one or more portable wireless systems  10  may allow the wireless service provider to better balance network traffic. For example, the wireless service provider may enable a larger number of portable wireless systems  10  as third party wireless repeaters during times when the amount of conventional wireless traffic is expected to be low, and disable such functionality during times when conventional wireless traffic is expected to be high. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , in one embodiment, portable wireless system  10  may be configured to operate as a third party wireless repeater as follows. When available (e.g., turned on and operating in the third party wireless repeater mode), portable wireless system  10  periodically may seek local third party portable electronic appliances (step  40 ). Portable wireless system  10  may seek third party electronic appliances within communication range in accordance with a conventional seek-and-connect communication protocol. If an appropriately configured third party portable electronic appliance is not detected (step  42 ), portable wireless system  10  may continue to seek local third party portable electronic appliances until portable wireless system  10  is no longer available (e.g., turned off or no longer operating in the third party wireless repeater mode) (step  40 ). If an appropriately configured third party electronic appliance is detected (step  42 ), portable wireless system  10  may transmit to the detected appliance an indication that it is available as a wireless repeater for third party communications with wireless network  18  (step  44 ). If the detected third party electronic appliance responds by sending a third party communication for relay to wireless network  18  (step  46 ), portable wireless system  10  transmits to wireless network  18  an identifier that has been assigned to portable wireless system  10  (step  48 ). The identifier typically is assigned at the time portable wireless system  10  is registered with the wireless service provider. Next, portable wireless system  10  relays received communications between the third party electronic appliance and wireless network  18  (step  50 ) until the third party communications have terminated (step  52 ). If the detected third party electronic appliance does not send a third party communication for relay to wireless network  18  (step  46 ), portable wireless system  10  may continue to seek other local third party portable electronic appliances until portable wireless system  10  is no longer available (e.g., turned off or no longer operating in the third party wireless repeater mode) (step  40 ). 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , in one embodiment, the wireless service provider linking portable wireless system  10  to wireless network  18  may handle relayed third party communications as follows. If no relayed third party communications are received (step  60 ), normal wireless service is provided to portable wireless system  10  (step  62 ). If a relayed third party communication is received (step  60 ), an incentive may be provided to the owner of portable wireless system  10  based upon the transmitted portable wireless system identifier (step  62 ). The incentive may be in the form of a discounted wireless service price or coupons for other services or products. In some embodiments, the incentive may be in the form of free portable wireless systems that are given to users, who may or may not be informed that the systems will be used as third party wireless repeaters. The incentive may be provided directly by the wireless service provider or indirectly by another service provider  20 - 24  (e.g., one or more service providers that are accessed by the third party electronic appliance). In some embodiments, the owner of the third party electronic device may be charged access fees and other charges directly by the wireless service provider. In still other embodiments, the owner of the third party electronic appliance may be required to pay the owner of portable wireless system  10  for use of the system as a third part wireless repeater. In these embodiments, portable wireless system  10  may solicit payment directly from the third party electronic appliance. An electronic payment system, such as PayPal (available from PayPal, Inc. of Omaha, Nebr., U.S.A.; www.paypal.com), may be used to wirelessly transmit payment directly from the third party electronic appliance to portable wireless system  10 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , in one embodiment, portable wireless system  10  includes a short range wireless communication system  70  and a long range wireless communication system  72 , each of which has a respective antenna  74 ,  76 , a receiver  78 ,  80 , a frequency synthesizer  82 ,  84 , and a transmitter  86 ,  88 . Portable wireless system  10  also has a voice/data system  90 , a memory  92 , a keypad,  94 , a display  96 , a mode selection switch  98 , a battery power supply  100 , and a controller  102  that choreographs the operation of portable wireless system  10 . Short range wireless communication system  70  is configured to establish communication links with local third party electronic appliances in accordance with a low power communication protocol (e.g., the Bluetooth RF communication protocol or the IrDA infrared communication protocol). Long range wireless communication system  72  is configured to establish communication links with wireless network  18  in accordance with a conventional wireless protocol (e.g., a conventional analog cellular protocol or a digital wireless protocol, such as WAP). In a personal electronic appliance mode of operation, controller  102  configures portable wireless system  10  to operate as a conventional personal electronic appliance (e.g., a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, a pager, a PDA, a digital audio player, or a laptop computer). In a third party wireless repeater mode of operation, controller  102  configures portable wireless system  10  to relay wireless signals  12 ,  14  between a third party electronic appliance  16  and a wireless network  18 . In some embodiments, controller  102  may be implemented in a separate module (e.g., a PC card, such as a PCMCIA card) that plugs into a legacy portable wireless device. 
     Referring to  FIG. 5A , in one embodiment, third party electronic appliance  16  may be implemented as a handheld PDA  110 . Handheld PDA  110  includes a screen  112  that displays a graphical user interface, which may present one or more user options for controlling the operation of handheld PDA  110 . Handheld PDA  110  also includes various user controls, including one or more control buttons  114 ,  116 ,  118 ,  120 . Handheld PDA  110  has an output port  124  for connecting to an input jack of an audio output device (e.g., headphones), and a cable port  126  for connecting to a computer or other hardware system. Portable media device further includes a wireless communication port  128 , for example, an IrDA (Infrared Data Association) port, through which handheld PDA  110  may wirelessly communicate with other similarly configured devices. Some embodiments may include an RF antenna  130  instead of, or in addition to, wireless communication port  98 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 5B , handheld PDA  110  has a communication subsystem that includes a network adapter  132  that is configured to communicate through cable port  126  and a transceiver  134  that is configured to communicate through wireless communication port  128  (or antenna  130 ). Handheld PDA  110  also may have a digital content rendering subsystem that includes an audio adapter  136  that is configured to transmit digital audio data signals to one or more speakers  138 , and a display adapter  140  that is configured to transmit image data signals to display screen  112 . A controller  142  is configured to choreograph the operation of handheld PDA  110 . Handheld PDA also may have a memory  144  that may include a random access memory (RAM) and a read only memory (ROM). In some embodiments, one or more other storage technologies may be used, including an internal hard drive and a removable storage device (e.g., a removable hard drive, storage card or disk). A battery power supply  146  supplies the electrical power needed to operate handheld PDA  110 . 
     In other embodiments, the portable wireless system  10  may be implemented as a solid state digital audio player, a CD player, an MCD player, a camera, a game pad, a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, a pager, a laptop computer, or other electronic device. 
     The systems and methods described herein are not limited to any particular hardware, firmware or software configuration, but rather they may be implemented in any computing or processing environment. 
     Other embodiments are within the scope of the claims.