Patent ID: 7031738

Claim:
In a multi-user FWA (fixed wireless access) communication system in which a plurality of subscriber stations are operable to communicate by way of radio links with network infrastructure to which a correspondent node is coupled, an improvement of apparatus for a selected subscriber station of the plurality of subscriber stations at which a priority call of selected call-type is selectably originated, said apparatus comprising: a call establishment message generator coupled to receive an indication of initiation at the selected subscriber station of origination of the priority call, said call establishment message generator for generating a call establishment message for communication to the network infrastructure to initiate call set-up procedures precursing a request to establish the priority call between the selected subscriber station and the correspondent node; a response detector coupled to receive an indication of a network-infrastructure generated response to the call establishment message generated by said call establishment message generator, said response detector for detecting whether the response to the call establishment message indicates communication resources to be available to establish the priority call; and a call set-up emulator coupled to said response detector, said call set-up emulator operable to emulate at the selected subscriber station normal call set-up operations thereat at least for a selected period responsive to detection by said response detector of unavailability of the communication resources to establish the priority call, wherein said correspondent node comprises an emergency dispatch center having a pseudo-universal dialing code associated therewith for said priority call and wherein the selected period is sufficient to determine whether the pseudo-universal dialing code has been dialed at the selected subscriber station.