WO2000010296A2 - Method and apparatus for network control in communications networks - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and apparatus for control of network resources in communications networks based upon the time and locations that communication events occur, the time and locations that communication resources are available and the transmission characteristics at selected times and locations. This invention predicts spatial locations where and times when usage requests can be serviced in a network. A network controller is provided for the network that operates to determine and control the location/time distribution of use requests for resources, the location/time distribution of available resources, and the location/time transmission characteristics in a manner that enhances system performance. The network controller has one or more components, for example communication controllers, a network operating system and network applications. The network controller is located, for example, in a region manager but can be distributed over the network. The network controller obtains and stores knowledge over time (both current and a priori) that is useful in dynamically optimizing system performance.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR NETWORK CONTROL IN COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS

Background of the Invention The present invention relates to the field of wireless communications networks and more specifically to methods and apparatus for control of network resources in communications networks based upon the times that and locations at which communication events occur and at which communication resources are available.

Wireless networks

Wireless communications networks utilize network resources in an environment where the demand for and the availability of those communication resources is variable over time and with location. Also, the transmission characteristics of wireless communications networks frequently change over time and with location. The combined effects of changes in use requests, resource availability, transmission characteristics and other factors dynamically affect system performance where system performance includes reliability, efficiency and availability.

Wireless communications networks have many different characteristics and are described, for example, as being single-directional or bi-directional (with balanced or unbalanced traffic in the different directions), simultaneous or non- simultaneous, ground-limited or non-ground-limited and voice or data or combined voice and data. Wireless communications networks employ many types of communication protocols including multiple access protocols such as frequency division (FDMA), code division (CDMA) and space division (SDMA). Wireless communications networks utilize many different network resources including antennas, transmitters, receivers, spectrum, channels, switches, links and so forth. Wireless networks have interfaces to other systems such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

Cellular Networks Cellular networks are wireless communications networks that "reuse" frequency and other radio frequency (RF) resources within zones or cells to provide wireless communication to users such as cellular phones, computers and other electronic devices. Each cell covers a small geographic area and collectively a group of adjacent cells covers a larger geographic region. Each cell has a fraction of the total amount of the RF spectrum or other resource available to support cellular users. Cells are of different sizes (for example, macro-cell or micro-cell).

The actual shapes and sizes of cells are complex functions of the terrain, the man-made environment, the quality of communication and the user capacity required. Cells are connected to each other via land lines or microwave links and to the public-switched telephone network (P S TN) through telephone switches that are adapted for mobile communication. The switches provide for the hand-off (hand-over) of users from cell to cell as mobile users move between cells. In conventional cellular networks, each cell has a base station with RF transmitters and RF receivers co-sited for transmitting and receiving communications to and from cellular users in the cell. The base station transmits forward channel communications to users and receives reverse channel communications from users in the cell. The forward and reverse channel communications use separate channel resources, such as frequency bands or spreading codes, so that simultaneous transmissions in both directions are possible. With separate frequency bands, the operation is referred to as frequency division duplex (FDD) signaling. In time division duplex (TDD) signaling, the forward and reverse channels take turns using the same frequency band. In code division duplex (CDD), the signaling is spread across a wide spectrum of frequencies and the signals are distinguished by different codes.

The base station in addition to providing RF connectivity to users also provides connectivity to a Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO) or Mobile Switching Center (MSC). In atypical cellular system, one or more MTSO' s (MSC s) will be used over the covered region. Each MTSO (MSC) can service a number of base stations (which are also known as Base Transceiver Stations (BTS)) and associated cells in the cellular system and supports switching operations for routing calls between other systems (such as the PSTN) and the cellular system or for routing calls within the cellular system.

Base stations are typically controlled from the MTSO by means of a Base Station Controller (BSC). The BSC assigns RF carriers or other resources to support calls, coordinates the handoff of mobile users between base stations, and monitors and reports on the status of base stations. The number of base stations controlled by a single MTSO depends upon the traffic at each base station, the cost of interconnection between the MTSO and the base stations, the topology of the service area and other similar factors.

A handoff is a communication transfer for a particular user from one base station in one cell to another base station in another call. A handoff between base stations occurs, for example, when a mobile user travels from a first cell to an adjacent second call. Handoffs also occur to relieve the load on a base station that has exhausted its traffic-carrying capacity or where poor quality communication is occurring. During the handoff in conventional cellular networks, there may be a transfer period of time during which the forward and reverse communications to the mobile user are severed with the base station for the first cell and are not yet established with the second cell.

Cellular Architectures

In wireless networks, both physical channels and logical channels exist where logical channels carry signaling data or user data that is mapped onto physical channels. In cellular networks, traffic channels are logical channels for user data and are distinguished from control channels that are logical channels for network management messages, maintenance, operational tasks and other control information used to move traffic data reliably and efficiently in the system. In general, the term channels refers to logical channels unless the context indicates otherwise and those logical channels are understood to be mapped to physical channels. The control channels process the access requests of mobile users.

Conventional cellular implementations employ one of several techniques to allocate RF resources from cell to cell over the cellular domain. Since the power at a receiver of a radio signal fades as the distance between transmitter and receiver increases, power fading is relied upon to enable RF resource reuse in cellular networks. In a cellular system, potentially interfering transmitters that are far enough away from a particular receiver, and which transmit with acceptable transmission parameters, do not unacceptably interfere with reception at the particular receiver. In a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) system, a communications channel consists of an assigned frequency and bandwidth (carrier). If a carrier is in use in a given cell, it can only be reused in other cells sufficiently separated from the given cell so that the other cell signals do not significantly interfere with the carrier in the given cell. The determination of how far away reuse cells must be and of what constitutes significant interference are implementation-specific details.

In a time division multiple access (TDMA) system, time is divided into time slots of a specified duration. Time slots are grouped into frames and the homologous time slots in each frame are assigned to the same channel. It is common practice to refer to the set of homologous time slots over all frames as a time slot. Typically, each logical channel is assigned a time slot or slots on a common carrier band. The radio transmissions carrying the communications over each logical channel are thus discontinuous in time. The radio transmitter is on during the time slots allocated to it and is off during the time slots not allocated to it. Each separate radio transmission which occupies a single time slot is called a burst. Each TDMA implementation defines one or more burst structures. Typically, there are at least two burst structures, namely, a first one for the user access request to the system, and a second one for routine communications once a user has been registered. Strict timing must be maintained in TDMA systems to prevent the bursts comprising one logical channel from interfering with the bursts comprising other logical channels in adjacent time slots.

One example of a TDMA system is a GSM system. In GSM systems, in addition to traffic channels, there are four different classes of control channels, namely, broadcast channels, common control channels, dedicated control channels, and associated control channels that are used in connection with access processing and user registration.

In a code division multiple access (CDMA) system, the RF transmissions are forward channel communications and reverse channel communications that are spread over a wide spectrum (spread spectrum) with unique spreading codes. The RF receptions in such a system distinguish the emissions of a particular transmitter from those of many others in the same spectrum by processing the whole occupied spectrum in careful time coincidence. The desired signal in an emission is recovered by de-spreading the signal with a copy of the spreading code in the receiving correlator while all other signals remain fully spread and are not subject to demodulation.

In wide band CDMA, different bandwidths may be employed. For example, a relatively narrowband signal (compared with the entire band available for the channel) may be used at some times for a lower data rate transfer and a wider band may be employed at other times for a higher bandwidth a higher date rate where the bandwidth is dynamically controlled.

The CDMA forward physical channel transmitted from a base station in a cell site is a forward waveform that includes individual logical channels that are distinguished from each other by their spreading codes (and are not separated in frequency or time as is the case with GSM) . The forward waveform includes a pilot channel, a synchronization channel and traffic channels. Timing is critical for proper de-spreading and demodulation of CDMA signals and the mobile users employ the pilot channel to synchronize with the base station so the users can recognize any of the other channels. The synchronization channel contains information needed by mobile users in a CDMA system including the system identification number (SLD), access procedures and precise time-of-day information.

Spread spectrum communication protocols include but are not limited to CDMA as well as Frequency Hopping and Time Hopping techniques. Frequency Hopping involves the partitioning of the frequency bandwidth into smaller frequency components, which a channel then uses by hopping from one frequency component to another in an essentially random manner. Interchannel distortion acts essentially as Gaussian white noise across time for each channel. Time Hopping involves a time division scheme wherein each channel starts and stops at differing time slots in an essentially random fashion. Again, interchannel distortion acts essentially as Gaussian white noise across time for each channel.

Many cellular networks are inherently space division multiple access (SDMA) systems in which each cell occupies and operates in a zone within a larger region. Also, cell sectoring, microcells and narrow beam antennas all employ spatial divisions that are useful in optimizing the reuse of RF resources. Space Diversity

The combining of signals from a single source that are received at multiple spaced-apart antennas is called space diversity. Micro-diversity is one form of space diversity that exists when two or more receiving antennas are located in close proximity to each other (within a distance of several meters for example) and where each antenna receives the signals from the single source. In micro-diversity systems, the received signals from the common source are processed and combined to form an improved quality resultant signal for that single source. Micro-diversity is effective against Rayleigh or Rician fading or similar disturbances. The terminology micro-diverse locations means, therefore, the locations of antennas that are close together and that are only separated enough to be effective against

Rayleigh or Rician fading or similar disturbances. The signal processing for micro- diverse locations can occur at a single physical location and hence micro-diversity processing need not adversely impact reverse channel bandwidth requirements. Macro-diversity is another form of space diversity that exists when two or more receiving antennas are located far apart from each other (at a distance much greater than several meters, for example, several kilometers) and where each antenna receives the signals from the single source. In macro-diversity systems, the received signals from the single source are processed and combined to form an improved quality resultant signal for that single source. The terminology macro-diversity means that the antennas are far enough apart to have de- correlation between the mean signal levels for signals from the single source. The terminology macro-diverse locations means, therefore, the locations of antennas that are far enough apart to achieve that de-correlation. Macro-diversity processing involves forwarding of signals to a common processing location and hence consumes communication bandwidth. The mean signal levels in macro-diversity systems are de-correlated because each separate signal path has unique propagation properties that diminish the signal strength. The propagation properties in each path are different from those in each other signal path. These unique propagation properties vary with distances above Rayleigh or Rician fading distances and are due to terrain effects, signal blocking by structures or vegetation and other similar environmental factors.

Fading due to such factors is referred to as shadow fading. De-correlation distances for shadow fading may be just above Rayleigh fading distances and may be as large as several kilometers.

User Location In Cellular Networks In cellular networks, equipment and functions are distributed over zones, cells, and other coverage areas. In order to control and operate cellular networks efficiently, information about the location of active users in the system is increasingly important.

In conventional cellular networks, the user location information that has been used has included the cell, or sector of a cell, in which a user is located. The location of a user in a cellular system is important because of the fading of signals as a function of the distance of a receiver from a transmitter. Although increases in broadcast power can be used at greater distances between broadcasters and receivers, such increases tend to cause reception interference by other receivers and hence tend to reduce the user capacity of the system. Accordingly, cellular networks balance RF resources in order to optimize parameters that efficiently establish good system performance. The problems associated with changing times and locations that communication events occur and the times and locations that communication resources are available have created a need for improved methods and apparatus for use in wireless mobile communication systems.

In order to improve system performance, a need exists for improved communication controls that account for location/time distributions of changes in user demand for resources, resource availability, transmission characteristics and other factors.

Summary of the Invention

The present invention is a method and apparatus for network control in communications networks. The communications network has one or more communications zones with users and network resources in each zone communicating in channels using messages. The channels are carried by data links between the users and network resources.

Communications in the network are controlled by a network controller that includes network applications for controlling the communications among users and network resources as a function of system parameters, network stores for storing information including system parameters, a network operating system for integrating the operation of the network applications and the network controller, and network processors for processing the network applications and other components of the network operating system. The network controller controls the users and network resources based upon the times, locations and conditions of communication events.

In a wireless system embodiment, the present invention uses historical and current information, including system parameters, about the wireless network to predict a spatial location where and when mobile wireless users can be connected for high quality data sessions.

The invention makes advantageous use of knowledge of the actual transport layer over space, the current location and vector of the mobile user, either predictive or "planned" information regarding the future path of the mobile user, the "backlog" of stored transactions in the network and their priorities, and the size and nature of the information to be transferred.

The invention is particularly useful when relatively large data structures are to transmitted to and from wireless users. Since large data structures cannot conventionally be transferred when the bit error rate (BER) is high without lowering spectral efficiency, the present invention chooses times, locations and conditions where low BER exists so as to enhance the transfer of the data. The present invention also employs intelligent queuing to further enhance the performance.

The invention is applied to all forms of wireless illumination, regardless of antenna aperture and is particularly meaningful where there is large variation. The use of "smart" (beam steered) antennas increases frequency re-use on the downlink in the presence of reliable spatial prediction. The asymmetry in data sessions usually means more data is transmitted to the mobile user than from it.

A network controller is provided that operates to determine and control the location/time distribution of user requests for resources, the location/time distribution of available resources, and the location/time transmission characteristics. The network controller obtains and stores knowledge over time (both current and a priori) that is useful in dynamically optimizing system performance. In one embodiment of the invention, the wireless users are mobile and have locations in the zone that can change from time to time. The data transfer characteristics of wireless users are a function of their location and provide unreliable data transfer at specific locations and/or times. The network controller senses when a wireless user is at a specific location and the communication system adjusts to prevent unreliable data transfers at that specific location and time so as to cause a reliable data transfer at other locations or times.

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description in conjunction with the drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings

FIG. 1 depicts a communications system for communications in a region, formed by a number of zones, and controlled by a region manager and network controllers. FIG. 2 depicts further details of the FIG 1 system.

FIG. 3 depicts the a block diagram representation of the network controller of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 depicts a block diagram representation of the network controller of FIG. 3 in distributed form. FIG. 5 depicts the communications system of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 where the users are cellular users communicating with communication resources that include a zone manager for broadcasting communications to the cellular users and that include macro-diverse collectors for receiving user communications for forwarding to the zone manger. FIG. 6 depicts a representation of multiple zones using the macro-diverse collectors of FIG. 5 and forming a cluster of zones in a cellular system.

FIG. 7 depicts a block diagram representation of a typical one of the zones of the FIG. 6 system.

FIG. 8 depicts a block diagram representation of the users, micro-diverse collectors and an aggregator for the communications system of FIG. 5.

FIG. 9 depicts a block diagram representation of a space/time data multiplexer for the communications system of FIG 5.

FIG. 10 depicts a representation of a data message transmitted in the communications system of FIG 5. FIG. 11 depicts a representation of the wireless data link transmission characteristic during the transmission of the data message of FIG. 10.

FIG. 12 depicts a representation of the modification of the transmission of the data message of FIG. 10 to compensate for the data link transmission characteristic of FIG. 11. FIG. 13 depicts a representation of the modification of the data link transmission characteristic of FIG. 11 to accommodate the data message of FIG. 10.

FIG. 14 depicts the architecture of the network operating system component of the network controller of FIG. 3. FIG. 15 depicts a server network controller and a client network controller of the FIG. 3 type connected together for distributed interaction under control of a distributed network operating system.

Detailed Description of the Invention Communications System — FIG. 1 FIG. 1 depicts a communications system 10 including a communications network 11 and other networks 14 such as the PSTN. The communications network 11 operates for communications in a region 19, formed by a number of zones 5, including the zones 5-1, ..., 5-Z, controlled by a region manager 12 including a network controller (NET CTRL) 8. The zones 5 include users (U) 15 and network resources (NR) 9 which are connected by data links 1 that enable the users 15 and network resources 9 to actively communicate over channels. The users 15 and network resources 9 also include network controllers 8 that cooperate with the network controller 8 in the region manger 12. Since the users 15 and network resources 9 are distributed over the region 19, their included network controllers 8 are distributed at different locations in the region 19.

The region 19 and the zones 5 are within the universal spatial domain which for generality is defined by three-dimensional coordinate systems so that the term location refers to places in the spatial domain that have space coordinates within a three-dimensional coordinate system. The spatial domain is typically partitioned into regions, such as region 19 and the zones (cells) 5, so that scarce resources (for example, channel frequencies or other reusable phenomena) from one zone can be reused in other zones. In this manner, the scarce resource is conserved while communications capabilities are extended throughout the spatial domain and particularly in the present example throughout the region 19. A typical communications network 11 has users 15 in motion at many different locations in region 19 and the term motion refers to the relative movement of users 15 with respect to network resources 9. In FIG. 1, the users 15 are any users of network resources 9 and are, for example, wireless phones, computers and other wireless devices in the communications network 11. The network resources 9 are, for example, broadcasters, receivers, signal processors and other communications devices useful for communications with users in region 19. The users 15 and the network resources 9 may include both receive-related and transmit-related components that can be integrated into a single combined component or may be present as separate components and, when separate, the components may or may not be physically proximate and may or may not be of different numbers.

In FIG. 1, any ones of the users 15 may be active or inactive at any given time. Each active user 15 typically engages in bidirectional communications with network resources 9, which in turn typically act to interconnect to one or more other users 15 located either within or external to the communications network 11. The bidirectional communications between two or more users 15 or to other users in the communications system 10 may be simultaneous or non-simultaneous. The data links 1 in FIG. 1 include components for the direct and logical interconnection of network resources 9 and users 15 and these components exhibit capacities and levels of utilization that may change as a function of time, location and other system parameters. In some instances, the data link components may reach full capacity or may become disconnected directly or logically from particular network resources 9 or users 15. Furthermore, the data links 1 typically exhibit background noise, co-channel and adjacent channel interference, fading and other variations due to changes in the system. The changes in the system include changes in the number of active users 7, changes in the number of network resources 9, changes in background noise, changes due to local phenomena, changes in attenuation and signal propagation, changes in weather conditions, changes in the relative distance of users 15 and groups of users 15 relative to network resources 9.

The data link 1 between the users 15 and the network resources 9 can be characterized as wireline or wireless or characterized as a combination of wireline and wireless. Wireline links include wires and fiber optic and support any of a variety of communications protocols including fibre channel, wavelength division multiple access and orthogonal waveform techniques.

The network controllers 8 operate to determine and control the location/time distribution of communications to service the needs of users 15 based upon the location/time distribution of available network resources 9 and the location/time distribution of transmission characteristics of channels between the users 15 and the network resources 9. The network controllers 8 use the location and time information obtained and may rely upon the history of prior conditions and information to predict conditions that will improve system performance. The network controllers 8 obtain and store information that is useful in dynamically optimizing system performance.

When the communications network 11 of FIG. 1 is ground-based and the users 15 are mobile telephone users, the system operation typically includes handoffs (handovers) between neighboring zones 5 particularly when a mobile user 15 travels from one zone 5 to another zone 5. In typical environments, noise, fading and high Bit Error Rates (BER) are present that can cause dropped calls. In such an environment, the present invention schedules the times and locations for communications in order to improve communications reliability and reduce losses and dropped calls due to noise, fading, high BER or other phenomena. The FIG. 1 system supports data communications that operate to transfer data messages having message transmission durations in data sessions. Data sessions for transferring data messages can consist of multiple transmission segments. Data messages from or to users 15 can be sent using multiple network resources 9 at different times and locations. For each data session, a determination is made as to where, when and how the data message is to be transferred considering system parameters such as sustainable bandwidth and communication reliability.

Some embodiments of the communications network 11 have a disproportionate amount of traffic in the forward (downlink) direction from network resources 9 to users 15 relative to the reverse (uplink) direction from users 15 to network resources 9.

Some embodiments of the communications network 11 experience wide variations in directional gain, loss and interference from their components. In such embodiments, typically one or more users 15 request data sessions within a common period of time. Prediction as to when and where to start these data sessions with the goal of improving resource allocation improves overall communication reliability and availability. In other embodiments, such as traffic surveillance and weather surveillance systems, a disproportionate amount of data is needed from particular user locations relative to all user locations which are available to provide data.

From time to time, the availability of network resources 9 to serve the needs of users 15 changes. Further, the data links 1 over which communications occur typically have characteristics that change as a function of time and as a function of where users 15 and network resources 9 are located at different times. The combined effects of changes in service needs, resource availability, transmission characteristics and other parameters of the communication network 11 are dynamically changing and affect the overall system performance. System performance includes reliability, efficiency, availability and other factors.

In FIG. 1, each user 15 operates as function of network parameters that affect system performance in the communications system 10 and the communications network 11. For example, a user performance parameter, U( , σ, λ, τ), is a function of a link parameter, , a signal parameter, σ, a location parameter, λ, and a time parameter, τ. The link parameter, , is a parameter that indicates properties of the RF spectrum resource that is reused such as frequency in an FDMA protocol or spreading codes or frequencies in CDMA protocol. In wide band CDMA (W-CDMA), spreading codes or frequencies are the resource where the spreading codes are more efficiently used, but the clock speeds are higher in order to accommodate the wider spectrum. The signal parameter, σ, is a parameter that indicates the quality of the RF signal such as power or bit error rate (BER). The location parameter, λ, is a parameter that indicates a location in the region 19 and is typically measured in x, y, z or r(θ) coordinates. The time parameter, τ, is real time, for example.

Each network resource 9 operates as a function of the network parameters. For example, the resource parameter, R(α, σ, λ, τ), is a function of the resources available to service users with the link parameters, , the signal parameters, σ, the location parameters, λ, and the time parameters, τ, for each of the users 15 and collectively for all of the users 15 of network 11.

The network 11 as a whole operates as a function of the network parameters. For example, a system parameter, S( , σ, λ, τ), is a function of all or some subset of the users 15 needing service, is a function of the network resources

9 available to provide service considering the link parameters, , the signal parameters, σ, the location parameters, λ, and the time parameters, τ, for all of the users 15 and the network resources 9.

The parameters U( , σ, λ, τ), R(α, σ, λ, τ) and S(α, σ, λ, τ) or any components thereof or statistical values derived therefrom, at any particular time, τ=t, are determined from time to time and are stored in a history store for use in predicting performance from time to time.

Communication events are events measured or determined, at event sample times (τ= 1, 2, ..., T), during communications in the network 11. For each event sample time, the parameters U( , σ, λ, τ), R(α, σ, λ, τ) and S(α, σ, λ, τ) are determined. In one embodiment, communications with mobile users 15 are processed to detect the users' locations λ in the region 19 and for those locations the parameters U( , σ, λ, τ), R( , σ, λ, τ) and S(α, σ, λ, τ) and/or statistical values derived therefrom (generically "sampled parameters") are determined. The sampled parameters for U(α, σ, λ, τ) are stored as a function of λ and R(α, σ, λ, τ) and S(α, σ, λ, τ) to create a stored data map for the communication region 19. After a statistically significant number of events are stored for a particular location, selected new communication events are processed with reference to the stored map in the history store. For example, for a selected communication event, the location λ_t of the communicating user 15 is determined, the map from the history store is interrogated for the location λ_t, and the parameters U(α, σ, λ, τ), R(α, σ, λ, τ) and S(α, σ, λ, τ) are analyzed. If communication performance is predicted to be improvable, selected components of the parameters U(α, σ, λ, τ), R(α, σ, λ, τ) and S(α, σ, λ, τ) are modified so as to improve system performance. The stored parameters can be processed in many different ways. For example, a sequence of location parameters for a user 15 are processed to yield user vector information including both the direction and speed of travel of the user. Such user vector information is useful in predicting the future path of the user. Speed is important at times because in some cases bad quality can be tolerated while at other times it cannot as a function of speed. For example, if a user is a vehicle moving fast through a location with bad quality, a data message burst or segment may not be affected by the location. Alternatively, if the location with bad quality is at a stop light where the moving vehicle stops for an extended period to wait for the light to change, the data message may be materially affected. Speed as a function of location is an important system parameter for this and other examples.

Speed is determined for a user using a speed network application.

In the present invention, the network controllers 8 distributed throughout the region 19 cooperate to detect, measure and process the network parameters and control the users 15 and network resources 9 to improve and optimize system performance.

Wireless Communications Network — FIG. 2

In FIG. 2, an embodiment of the communications network 11 of FIG. 1 is shown with users 15 and network resources 9 in region 19 including the zones 5. The users 15 are typically wireless mobile users such as mobile telephones, portable computers and other electronic devices. The users 15 include the users 15-1, ...,

15-W, located in a zone 5-1. The network resources 9 are typical resources such as broadcasters, receivers and signal processors useful in communicating with wireless mobile users 15. The network resources 9 include the network resources 9-1, ..., 9-R located in zone 5-1. The users 15 and network resources 9 are connected by data links 1, including the data links { 1-(1,1)... 1-(1,R)} ... and the data links ,.. {1-(W,1) ... 1-(W,R)}. Each of the zones 5-1, 5-2, ..., 5-Z in region 19 include users, network resources and data links like those in the zone 5-1 and are under control of a region manager 12 and the network controllers 8 for controlling communications in the region.

The wireless communications network 11 of FIG. 2 supports communications that operate to transfer messages having message transmission durations in message sessions. Message sessions can consist of multiple transmission segments. Messages can be sent using multiple network resources 9 at different times and different locations 23 in region 19. For example, a mobile wireless user 15-1 can receive a message at a particular user location 23-1 in zone 5-1, at another location 23-2 in zone 5-1 (to which the user 15-1 moves within a period of time) or to still another location outside of zone 5-1, for example, location 23-3 in zone 5-Z (to which the user 15-1 moves within another period of time). For each message session, a determination is made as to where, when and how the message is to be transferred considering system performance parameters.

The control of the communications in the communication network 11 of

FIG. 2 relies upon the operation of the network controllers 8 including the region network controller 8 in the region manager 12 and the zone network controllers 8 in the zones 5.

Network Controller - FIG. 3

In FIG. 3, a block diagram representation of the network controllers 8 of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 is shown. The network controllers 8 utilize historical and current spatial and temporal information about the network 11 to determine where, when and how to service the communications needs of users 15. The network controller

8 in FIG. 3 includes network applications 31, a network operating system 32, network processors 33 and network stores 34. The network applications 31 are computer software or other control logic for controlling the communications between users 15 and network resources 9. The network applications 31 are executed in conjunction with the network operating system 32 and network processors 33 based upon spatial, temporal and other information generated and stored in the network stores 34. In FIG. 3, the network operating system 32 is a control program, control logic or other means which integrates the operation of the network applications 31 , the network processors 33 and the network stores 34. The network operating system 32 maintains a User List, a Net Resources List, a Network Processors List, a Network Stores List and runs processes for scheduling and otherwise servicing the network applications 31.

In FlG. 3, the network processors 33 are general-purpose or special- purpose digital processors for executing the control algorithms of the network operating system 32 and the network applications 31 and for accessing the network stores 34. In FIG. 3, the network stores 34 are data stores for storing the information used in controlling the communications between users and network resources. The network stores 34 are of the type accessible by general-purpose or special-purpose digital processors for storing control programs and/or control logic of the network operating system 32, the network applications 31 and the system parameters, models and other data of the communications network 11.

The control information used by the network controllers 9 includes the location parameter λ, the link parameter a, the quality parameter σ and the time τ. Additional parameters determined as a function of location and/or time include traffic statistics such as calls started, calls ongoing, calls terminated, hand-offs accepted and rejected and call setups attempted and rejected. Further parameters include user data such as user location, velocity, equipment and historical travel patterns. Still further information includes environmental conditions due, for example, to weather (such as rain, hurricanes, tornados and fog); due to events (such as sporting and other events with large crowds that concentrate users) and due to time-of-day patterns (such as daily commutes). Further parameters include message information including type, size and priority. Further parameters include data link and channel information such as bandwidth requirements, transfer time restrictions and transmission power. In general, the control information used by the network controllers 9 includes any data that is useful in predicting user communications needs and the availability of resources to meet those needs.

The network controller 8 of FIG. 3 obtains the parameter data and processes the data for storage in network stores 34. The network controller 8 uses the stored information to allocate communication resources 9 for servicing the users 15. Many different network applications 31 are present for execution by network controllers 8 to obtain and process parameters and control information transfers. In general, the network applications 31 include utility applications that are executed to provide information for determining and processing the system parameters and include output applications for controlling operations that provide an out put. Output applications include transfer applications for the transfer of information to and from users using network resources. The utility applications include, for example, a location application for determining the location λ of users 15 and network resources 9, a link application for determining links , a quality application for determining the quality σ of signals and a time application for coordinating time τ.

Further examples of utility applications include model applications for processing the system parameters and other information to form models and data maps. Models generated from the history data are used to predict spatial and/or temporal changes for one or more parameters used for resource allocation. Models are generated in some embodiments based upon generalized pattern matching without any direct correlation to theoretical user models while in other embodiments the patterns are correlated to a theoretical user model.

The present invention includes a number of transfer applications which are active in transferring information to and from users. A data multiplexer application is one example of a transfer application in which a data message is transferred to a particular user from one or more of the network resources in a data session. In the data multiplexer application, the network controllers 8 determine if the data session for transferring the data message can be completed in a single transmission segment or whether multiple transmission segments are required using multiple network resources at different times and locations. The network controllers executing the data multiplexer determine where, when and how the data message is to be transferred considering the system parameters.

Another example of a transfer application is a priority application where, for example, the first of a number of emergency E911 calls from one location are given priority but subsequent E911 calls from that location are given lower priority than E911 calls from other locations.

Distributed Network Controller — FIG. 4

FIG. 4 depicts a block diagram representation of the network controller 8 of FIG. 3 in distributed form. Each of the components of the network controller 8 of FIG. 3 are distributed among the users 7, the network resources 9 and the region manager 12. Specifically, the network applications 31 are distributed as network applications modules 31-1, 31-2, ..., 31-A, the network operating system 32 is distributed as network operating system modules 32-1, 32-2, ..., 32-N, the network processors 33 are distributed as network processor modules 33-1, 33-2, ..., 33-P, and network stores 34 are distributed as network stores modules 34-1,

34-2, ..., 34-S. Each of the modules of FIG. 4 can be located in different users 15 and/or network resources 9, but they all operate together logically to carry out their respective functions.

Asymmetrical Cellular System — FIG. 5 In FIG. 5, one embodiment of the present invention is implemented in an asymmetrical wireless network having multiple collectors 45 in a network resource 9. The asymmetrical wireless network of FIG. 5 is of the type described in the above-identified US Patent 5,715,516.

In FIG. 5, a zone 5-1 of the type described in connection with the wireless communication network 11 of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 provides communication to users 15 that are wireless users 15 including users 15-1, ..., 15-W. The wireless user 15- 1, by way of example, has multiple reverse data links 1,, ..., l_Nc that connect to multiple collectors 45-1, ..., 45-Nc which in turn connect the reverse channels to zone manager 20. Each of the collectors 45-1, ..., 45-Nc and the zone manager 20 are a network resource 9 as described in connection with FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 and collectively they are combined network resource 9'. The zone manager 20 connects the channels to the users 15-1, ..., 15-W. The wireless users 15, the collectors 45 and the zone manager 20 include network controllers 8 of the distributed form of FIG. 4 for controlling the wireless communications in the zone 5-1. The network controllers 8 function, in one example, to determine which one or more of the collectors 45-1, ..., 45-Nc are active for particular ones of the users 5-1, ..., 15-W in connection with execution of a network application and at different times and locations of the users 15.

Multiple Zone Asymmetrical Cellular Network— FIG. 6

In FIG. 6, one embodiment of the present invention is implemented in an asymmetrical wireless network of the FIG. 5 type having multiple zones 5, including the zones 5-1, 5-2, ..., 5-6, where each zone has multiple collectors 45 including collectors Cl, C2, C3 and C4. The collectors 45 are network resources 9 as described in connection with FIG 5. The asymmetrical wireless multiple zone network of FIG. 6 is of the type described in FIG. 5 and the above-identified US Patent 5,715,516. While the zones of FIG. 6 have been schematically represented as triangles that collectively form a hexagon, zones are frequently irregular in shape and FIG. 6 is only intended to be schematic in nature. Reference is made to the above-identified application entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COLLECTOR ARRAYS OF DIRECTIONAL ANTENNAS CO-LOCATED WITH ZONE MANAGERS IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS in which an actual embodiment of zones with irregular shapes is shown.

In FIG. 6, the zones 5 are like a zone 5-1 of FIG. 5 and a zone 5 hereinafter described in connection with FIG. 7. Each of the zones 5-2, ..., 5-6 includes users 15 like those for zones 5 and 5-1. The zone 5-1 includes a C2 collector 45 that operates, at times determined by the network controllers 8, together with the collectors Cl and C3 where collectors Cl and C3 also operate, at times determined by the network controllers 8, with zone 5-2 together with collector C4.

InFIG. 6, the cellular system is shown having zone managers 20-1, ..., 20- 6 of which zone manager 20- 1 is typical. The zone managers 20 have broadcasters

16-1, ..., 16-6 where broadcaster 16-1 is typical, that broadcast forward channel (FC) communications to multiple users 15 in one or more ofthe zones 5-1, ..., 5-6. The zone managers 20 are network resources 9 as described in connection with FIG 5. In FIG. 6, each of the users 15 transmits reverse channel (RC) communications to one or more of multiple collectors 45 including collectors Cl, C2, C3 and C4, which in turn forward the reverse channel communications to aggregators 17-1, ..., 17-6, where aggregator 17-1 is typical. The zone managers 20 can be located at a base station that is configured in a number of different ways. In one configuration determined by the network controllers 8, each broadcaster broadcasts forward channel communications in a different one of six sectors in six different frequency ranges corresponding to the zones 5-1, 5-2, ..., 5-6. The users 15 in the different zones transmit in reverse channels on corresponding frequency ranges to the various collectors operating in their broadcast ranges and the collectors in turn forward reverse channel communications to a corresponding one of the aggregators 17. In another configuration determined by the network controllers 8, all ofthe zones use the same frequency ranges and no sectorization is employed and in such an embodiment one or more zone managers may be employed. In general, regardless of the configuration, some collector sites are associated with collectors for several zones. For example, C3 services users in two zones, 5-1 and 5-2. The backhaul link from C3 to the aggregator 17-1 is shared by users from zones 5-1 and 5-2.

In one embodiment in order to conserve bandwidth, the confidence metric bandwidth for one zone is at times reduced in order to permit an increase in the bandwidth of another zone where the zones are sharing reverse channel communication bandwidth from common associated collectors, like collectors Cl and C3 in the example described. Bandwidth control algorithms are stored and executed in each collector. Further, the zone manager 20 of FIG. 8 communicates with the processors 42 of FIG. 8 over remote interfaces when adjustments, such as for bandwidth balancing, are required. The implementation of the bandwidth control is through a bandwidth network application.

In FIG. 6, the region manager 12 controls the bandwidth allocation ofthe zone managers 20-1, ..., 20-6 for the contiguous zones 5-1, ..., 5-6 and for other zones which may or may not be contiguous to the zones 5-1, ..., 5-6.

Cellular System - FIG. 7

In FIG. 7, a cellular system is shown having a zone manager 20 that includes broadcaster (B)16, aggregator (A) 17 and network controller (NET CTRL) 8. The broadcaster 16 broadcasts forward channel (FC) communications from broadcaster 16 to multiple users 15 including users Ul, U2, ..., UU located within a broadcaster zone 5 designated by the dashed-line triangle. The users 15 can be at fixed locations or can be mobile. Each ofthe multiple users 15 transmits reverse channel (RC) communications to one or more of multiple collectors 45 including collectors Cl, C2, and C3 which, when active, in turn forward the reverse channel communications to aggregator 17 in zone manager 20. The broadcaster 16, the aggregator 17 and the network controller 8-0 can be co-sited or at different locations. The determination of which ones ofthe collectors 45 are active for any particular user 15 is under control of network controller 8-0. Network controller 8-0 operates to select active collectors based upon bandwidth availability, signal quality and other system parameters. For purposes of explanation in this application, it is assumed that collectors Cl, C2 and C3 have been selected for user Ul.

Each ofthe users 15 has a receiver for receiving broadcasts on the forward channels from the broadcaster 16. Also, each ofthe users 15 has a transmitter that transmits on reverse channels to the collectors 45. The collectors 45 are sited at macro-diverse locations relative to each other generally within broadcaster zone 5. Therefore, multiple copies of macro-diverse reverse channel communications are received at the aggregator 17 for each user 15.

In the FIG. 7 system, when any user 15 is turned from off to on in zone 5, an access protocol is followed in order that the user becomes recognized and registered for operations in the system. First, an orientation procedure is followed by user 15 to orient the user to zone manager 20 and any connected network such as the Public switched telephone network (PSTN). The user 15 receives access synchronization signals from the broadcaster 16. When a user 15 is turned from off to on in a broadcaster zone 5 and the orientation procedure has been followed, the user 15 sends access request bursts on an access reverse channel. Each burst includes a predetermined access request sequence of bits.

The collectors 45, distributed at macro-diverse locations, are time synchronized and receive the reverse channel signals with access request bursts from the users 15. The access requests from the users received at the macro- diverse collectors 45 are processed and forwarded to an aggregator 17 for final user registration processing.

In FIG. 7, the Ul user 15-1_! is typical and receives forward channel (FC) communications including access sychronization information from broadcaster 16.

The user 15-l_α also forwards user-to-collector reverse channel communications ("^RC) including user access requests to each ofthe collectors 45 and particularly to the active collectors Cl, C2 and C3. Each ofthe active collectors Cl, C2 and C3 for user 15-1_! forwards collector-to-aggregator reverse channel communications (^c/aRCl) to aggregator 17. The reverse channel communications fromtheUl user 15-l_j include the user-to-collector communication ^RCl and the collector-to-aggregator communication ^{c a}RCl, the user-to-collector communication ^cRC2 and the collector-to-aggregator communication ^02 and the user-to-collector communication ^RCS and the collector-to-aggregator communication ^{c a}RC3. Each of the other users U2, ..., UU in FIG. 7 has similar forward channel communications that include access synchronization signals and reverse channel communications that include user access requests.

In FIG. 7, the Ul users 15-1_!, ..., 15-l_ul are all located in a subzone bounded by the collector Cl and the arc 5j and hence are in close proximity to the collector Cl. Because of the close proximity, the signal strength of the reverse channel transmissions from the Ul users 15-lj, ..., 15-l_ul to collector Cl is normally high. Similarly, the U2 users 15-2_l5 ..., 15-2_u2 are all located in a subzone bounded by the collector C2 and the arc 5₂ and hence are in close proximity to the collector C2. Because of the close proximity, the signal strength of the reverse channel transmissions from the U2 users 15-2_l5 ..., 15-2_u2 to collector C2 is normally high. TheU3 users 15-3j, ..., 15-S^ are all located in a subzone bounded by the collector C3 and the arc 5₃ and hence are in close proximity to the collector C3. The signal strength ofthe reverse channel transmissions from the U3 users 15- 3_j, ..., 15-3^ to collector C3 is normally high. In FIG. 7, the central subzone 5_C generally bounded by the arcs 5_ls 5₂ and

5₃ are relatively far from the collectors Cl, C2 and C3 so that the reverse channel signal strength from all ofthe UU users 15-U_l5 ..., 1 -U_uU in this region to each of the collectors Cl, C2 and C3 is normally weaker than for users closer to the collectors in the subzones 5_1; 5₂ and 5₃. The forward and reverse channel communications of FIG. 7 in the present invention apply to any digital radio signal system including, for example, TDMA, CDMA (including W-CDMA), SDMA and FDMA systems. If the digital radio signals of any particular system are not inherently burst structured, then some arbitrary partitioning of time into intervals may be used for processing in accordance with the present invention.

Multiple-Collector Configuration — FIG. 8

In FIG. 8, a plurality of collectors 45-1, ..., 45-Nc, like the collectors 45 in FIG.5, each are network resources, available under control of network controllers 8, to receive reverse channel communications from users 15-1, ..., 15-

U. For each selected user 15, the selected ones ofthe collectors 45-1, ..., 45-Nc each process the received signals all representing the same communication from the user 15. When more than one of the collectors 45 is selected, these communications have macro-diversity because ofthe macro distances separating the collectors 45 of FIG. 7. These communications include spatially macro-diverse data bursts, ^_p, ..., ^NcB_p, and corresponding processed confidence metric vectors ^M_p, ..., ^NcCM_p that are forwarded to the aggregator 17 in formatted form designated as

..., ^NcB, ^NcCM,/ ^NcM/ ^NcCC. The aggregator 17 combines the spatially diverse data bursts ^B,,, ..., ^NcB_p, and corresponding confidence metric vectors ^M_p, ..., ^NcCM-, to form a final single representation of the data burst, B_f, with a corresponding final confidence metric vector, CM_f. The aggregator 17 may use the measurement signals ¹M,..., ^NcM and control signals *CC, ... ^NcCC in selecting or processing the data bursts ^xB_p, ..., ^NcB_p, and/or the corresponding confidence metric vectors ^M_p, ..., ^NcCM_p. For example, if a particular burst is associated with a poor quality signal, the particular burst may be excluded from the aggregation. The quality of a signal is measured in one example based on the channel model attenuation estimate.

In FIG. 8, the collectors 45-1, ..., 45-Nc include RF subsystems 43-1, ..., 43 -Nc which have two or more micro-diversity receive antennas 48-1, ..., 48-N_a. The antennas 48-1, ..., 48-N_a each receives the transmitted signals from each one of a plurality of users 15-1, ..., 15-U. Each representation of a received signal from a single user that is received by the RF subsystems 43-1, ..., 43 -Nc connects in the form of a burst of data to the corresponding one ofthe signal processors 42-1, ..., 42-Nc. The received data bursts from the antennas 48-1, ..., 48-N_a are represented as ^ ..., ^NaB_r. The signal processors 42-1, ..., 42-Nc process the plurality of received bursts for a single user to form single processed bursts, 'B_p, ..., ^NcB_p, representing the signals from the single user. The processed bursts, ^_p, ..., ^NcB_p, have corresponding confidence metric vectors, ^M_p, ²CM_p, ..., ^NcCM_p, representing the reliability of each bit ofthe data bursts. Each processed burst has the bits β_pι, β_p2, ..., β_pB and the processed confidence metric vector, CM_p, has the corresponding processed confidence metrics cnrj_pl, CTj_p2, ..., Cn]_pB. Measurement signals, M, ..., ^NcM, are formed that measure the power or other characteristics of the signal. The processed bursts, the confidence metric vectors, and the measurements connect to the interface units 46-1, ..., 46-Nc which format those signals and transmit or otherwise connect them as reverse channel signals to the aggregator 17.

In FIG. 8 , the signal processors 42- 1 , ... , 42-Nc receive timing information that permits collector signals from each collector to be time synchronized with signals from each ofthe other collectors. For example, each collector may have a global positioning system (GPS) receiver (not shown) for receiving a time synchronization signal. Alternatively, or in addition, the zone manager 20 of FIG. 7 can broadcast or otherwise transmit time synchronization information. The signal processors 42-1, ..., 42-Nc provide time stamps in collector control signals ^C, ..., ^NcCC that are forwarded from interface units 46-1, ..., 46-Nc as part ofthe reverse channel signals to the aggregator 17.

In FIG. 8, a block diagram representation ofthe aggregator 17 is shown. The aggregator 17 includes a receive/format group 66 which operates to receive and format signals transmitted by the collectors 45. The received signals

..., ^NcB_p/ ""Cm/ ^NcM/ ^NcCC, after formatting are connected to the signal processor 67 which processes the received signals for macro-diversity combining. The format group 66 uses the time stamp and other control code (CC) information to align the signals from different collectors for the same user. More specifically, the unit 66 for each one or more bursts compares and aligns the time stamps from the control fields *CC, ²CC, ..., ^NcCC so that the corresponding data, confidence metric and measurement signals from different collectors, for the same common burst from a user are aligned.

The signal processor 67 for the aggregator 17 processes the burst signals from each user and the N_c representations ofthe reverse channel signal from the user as received through the N_c active collectors 45 under control ofthe network control 8 in aggregator 17. The network control 8 in aggregator 17 can use the signal processor 67 as the network processor 33 (see FIG. 3). The signal processor 67 functions, among other things, to generate BER signals and communicates them to the network controller 8. The N_c data, metric and measurement values for a single user include the data and processed confidence metric pairs [^lηB_b, ^M], [²B_b,

²CM_p] , ..., [^NΕ_b, ^CM_p] and the measurement values s, ^XM, ²M, ..., ^NcM. The processed confidence metrics, ^M_p, ²CM_p, ..., ^NcCM_p are processed to form the aggregator processed confidence metrics, ^M_pp, ²CM_pP, ..., ^CM,,,,.

Communications Network Operation The communications network 11 of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 operates with many network applications 31 as explained with reference to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. The network applications 31 include a number of transfer applications some of which are listed in the following LIST 1.

The present invention operates, in one example, where a data message is transferred using a selected one of the transfer applications of LIST 1. The decision as to which transfer application to employ is made consulting the network stores 34 to determine if a history of similar transfers is stored including the availability of resources from the resource parameter, R(α, σ, λ, τ), the particular characteristics for the particular user from the user parameter U(α, σ, λ, τ), and the conditions ofthe system from the system parameter S(α, σ, λ, τ). For example, if the history store for the particular user at the particular location, using selected data links and other resources for the current time of transmission, and the system load and priority determined by the system parameter indicates that a data multiplexer application is the desirable transfer application to select, then the data message is sent using the data multiplexer application. In general, the decision of which data transfer application and its transfer algorithm is to be used is based upon minimizing the load on system resources. The load on system resources varies as a function ofthe network transfer application selected. The resend application is more inefficient the greater the frequency that the BER is above BER_T for a data message since more resources must be used for transferring resend traffic. The segmented resend apphcation can have increased efficiency relative to the resend application but it is also is ineffective in high BER environments. The error-correcting application burdens the transmissions with extra error-correcting bits. While the segmented error- correcting application increases efficiency relative to the unsegmented error- correcting application, one ofthe other transfer applications may still be required when uncorrectable segments are present. The data multiplexer application is efficient and usually requires a minimum of resources relative to other network applications 31 that also achieve reliable message delivery.

The quality of received signals as measured, for example, by BER is a function of many different parameters in the communications network 11. Also, the value for BER_T can vary depending on the network application 31 being executed, the communication protocol, the types of data transferred and other system parameters. Data Multiplexer Application— FIG. 9

FIG. 9 depicts a block diagram representation of a data multiplexer application 31-1 together with utility applications 31-0. The utility applications 31- 0 are applications 31 ofthe network controllers 8 of FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 and are used to support the data multiplexer application 31-1 and other network operations. The data multiplexer application 31-1 and the utility applications 31-0 are executed by the network processors 33 of FIG. 3 and FIG. 4.

The data multiplexer application 31-1 functions to determine when some portions of a data message are likely to exhibit excessive errors during the data session as compared to how a data message otherwise would be transmitted over a data link absent the intervention ofthe network controllers. Such errors occur when the BER^' for messages over the data link is high. In one execution, the data message is broken into segments and each segment is sent only when the BER is low. In another execution, the transmission characteristics (TC) ofthe data link are modified to reduce BER to an acceptable level so that the data message can be sent without need for segmentation. In still additional executions, a combination of segmentation and transmission modification are used.

The data multiplexer application 31-1 includes a parameter module 25, a link module 26, a transfer module 27 and a message module 28. The message module 28 functions to supply and control the data message identifying the properties ofthe message including the source ofthe message, the destination of the message, the length of the message and segmentation boundaries within the message. The link module 26 identifies the particular network resources that establish a data link between the source and destination identified in the data message module and the transmission characteristics ofthe data link. The transfer module 27 controls the transmission of the data message over the channel and selected data link, determines start and stop times of the data message and any segments that may be required. The parameter module 25 determines and processes the system parameters that are used in controlling the transfer. In the data multiplexer application, the system parameters include the current location, λ_c, of the destination user, the projected location, λ_p, of the destination user, the current signal quality, σ_c, ofthe data link between the user at the current location and the network resource, the projected signal quality, σ_p, of the data link between a user at the projected location and the network resource and the current time, τ_c, when the destination user is at the current location and the projected, τ_p, when the destination user will be at the projected location. The system parameters are determined and controlled in cooperation with the utility applications 31-0 of FIG. 9.

In FIG. 9, the utility applications 31-0 support the operation ofthe data multiplexer application in the following way. The location utility application operates to use location algorithms to periodically, at a location sampling rate, identify the current location, λ_c, ofthe destination user.

Referring to FIG. 7, the location algorithm operates, for example, to select three or more collectors 45 (collectors Cl, C2 and C3) that are time synchronized and measures the time difference of arrival ofthe reverse channel signals from a destination user such as user 15-1_L. Since the collectors 45 are at known locations, the locations of users can be accurately determined at the aggregator 17, for example.

Each current location is stored together with the time ofthe sample in a current data table. Concurrently with each location measurement, a quality utility application measures the current signal quality, σ_c, at each current location and stores the data in the current data table. A quality-history utility application processes all the current data tables for each user to build a quality-history data map ofthe zone with signal quality versus location for each data link separately or in combination when aggregation of signals is employed. Each new sample of data is combined with a weighting algorithm with the data stored in the quality-history store. The weighting in one example uses the number of samples used to generate the data in the quality-history store as the weight for the data in the quality-history store and the weight for each new sample is a weight of 1. A speed network application determines the speed of a user, for example, by determining the rate of change ofthe locations in the current data table.

Although locations of users are important, network applications can also determine locations of elements or conditions within the communications network. In some cases, the locations and patterns of "interferers" may be of interest. Interferers can be moving and, include by way of example, climate conditions such as heavy fog, rush-hour high usage areas in CDMA and other systems and microwave blasts. In general, any of such conditions in a communications network can be located using a condition network application.

A speed network application determines the speed of users, for example, by determining the rate of change ofthe locations in the current data table for each user.

A path-history utility application processes all the current data tables for each user to build a path-history data map ofthe zone with current location versus projected location. The path-history algorithm functions to analyze the entire sequence of locations in the current data table for fits of similar sequences of locations in a path-history store. When more than one path in the path-history store correlates against the current sequence, branch locations in paths are recorded identifying possible alternate future paths. For each stored path, a range of path traversal rates are stored as a function of location, time and date. In one data multiplexer apphcation, a data message is to be transferred from a particular user, such as user 15-1 in FIG. 2, to one or more ofthe network resources during a data session. In the data multiplexer application, the network controllers 8 determine if the data session for transferring the data message can complete in a single transmission segment or whether multiple transmission segments are required. The data message from user 15-1 can be sent using multiple network resources 9 at different times and locations and a determination is made as to where, when and how the data message is to be transferred considering the system parameters. For example, the data message can be commenced by network resources 9-1 when the user 15-1 is at location 23-1, thereafter may be suspended for a time until user 15-1 moves to location 23-2 and the data message continues from network resource 9-R and still further may continue to completion only when user 15-1 is at location 23-3 in zone 5-Z.

Data Multiplexer Example- FIG. 10 to FIG. 13. In FIG. 10, the data message DM that extends from t=2 to t=12 is to be transmitted in a data session having one or more segments. By way of example, assume the data message of FIG. 10 is to be transferred from the user 15-l_x of FIG. 7 to the aggregator 17 in zone manager 20. In the example, assume the user 15- 1 _j is moving on a path 71 starting at a location λ^ prior to the current location λ_t=2 and projected to travel to the location λ_t=20.

To transfer the data message of FIG 10 from user 15-lj to the aggregator 17 in zone manager 20 using network resources which include the collector C 1 , C2 and C3, the network controllers 8 determine if the data session for transferring the data message can be completed in a single transmission segment or whether multiple transmission segments are warranted. The network controllers 8 include the network controller 8-0 in zone manager 20 and the network controllers 8-1, 8- 2 and 8-3 in the collectors Cl, C2 and C3, respectively.

To determine if multiple segments are warranted, the network controllers 8 determine the projected transmission characteristic of the data link over the projected travel path of the user 15-l_j from the current time t=2 at least until t=12 and in the present example until t=20 using the utility applications 31-0 of FIG. 9. In FIG. 7, the prior path ofthe user 15-l_x from λ,^ to the current location at λ^₂ is recorded in the current data table. The prior path data for user 15-l_x is detected by operation ofthe collectors Cl, C2 and C3 transmitting location information to the aggregator 17. The prior path data in the current data table is analyzed against the path-history store data to determine the projected path of the user 15-l_j between the location

As shown in FIG. 11, the transmission characteristic ofthe wireless data link from user 15-l_j is estimated to have a high BER that is above the threshold BER_T between t=9 until about t=14 and hence, between t=9 until about t=14, the data message of FIG. 10 cannot be reliably transmitted over the projected path of user 15-lj unless some adjustment is made.

As shown in FIG. 12, the present invention in one embodiment makes an adjustment and transmits the data message of FIG. 10 in two segments, a first segment between t=2 and t=8 and a second segment between t=16 and t=20. The first and second segments are present when the BER is below the threshold BER_T. In FIG. 9, the link module 26 processes the link data α that determines and controls what data links are available and active. The transfer module 27 receives the data message from the message module 28 and in the present example breaks the data message for transmission into two segments. The parameter module 25 processes system parameters including the quality parameter σ for the current data table and projects the transmission characteristics of FIG. 11 that determine projected excessive BER from about t=9 to about t=15.

The following TABLE 1 is a current data table for the user system parameters U(α,σ,λ,τ) for the data multiplexer application of FIG. 9 when only the wireless data link c ^{=u c}RCl between the user 15-lj and the collector Cl in FIG. 7 is used for data transfer. Note that the measured current data quality parameter σ of TABLE 1 tracks the estimated transfer characteristic of FIG. 11 so that error free transfer of the data message of FIG. 10 is achieved with effective use of bandwidth in the two segments of FIG. 12.

The following TABLE 2 is a current data table for the user system parameter U( ,σ,λ,τ) for the data multiplexer application of FIG. 9 when the wireless data links

between the user 15-lι and the collector Cl, the collector C2 and the collector C3, respectively, in FIG 7 are available for data transfer of the data message of FIG. 10. In the TABLE 2 example, the network controllers determined that the data message of FIG. 10 can be transmitted in a single segment if the quality ofthe data link between user 15-l_j and collector Cl is improved at least between t=8 to t=16. To improve the quality, the confidence metric processing for ^M_p in the collector 45-1 of FIG. 8 is adjusted. The result ofthe adjustment reduces the BER below the threshold BER_T as shown by the broken line in FIG. 13.

Note that the measured current data quality parameter σ_x of TABLE 2 is below the threshold BER_T for the entire period t=2 to t=12 so that error free transfer of the data message of FIG. 10 is achieved in one segment from t=2 to 1=12.

Note that the measured current data quality parameters σ_l5 σ₂ and σ₃ of TABLE 2 (which for purposes ofthe present example are assumed to be the same as the estimated values) indicate that other mechanisms for error free transfer of the FIG. 10 data message are available to the network controllers 8. For example, during the period from t=8 to t=16 when the quality of σ, is bad, the quality of σ₃ is uniformly good and below the threshold BER_T. Accordingly, the network controllers 8 can operate to select one portion ofthe data message of FIG. 10 over the data link α^{=u c}RCl from t=2 to t=8 and the other portion ofthe message over the data link α^{=u c}RC3 from t=8 to t= 12. As a further alternative, aggregation of the signals is possible from all ofthe data links a=^u/eRC 1 , a=^u/cRC2 and ^{=u c}RC3

between the user 15- 1 _x and the collector C 1 , the collector C2 and the collector C3 , respectively, as forwarded to the aggregator 17.

The decision as to which particular resources and methods are employed for each data message is a function ofthe quality ofthe history data in the history stores and the efficient allocation of resources among users competing for system resources. The utility applications 31-0 include a resource application that operates to determine resource parameters, R(α, σ, λ, τ), as a function of the resources available to service users with the link parameters, α, the signal parameters, σ, the location parameters, λ, and the time parameters, τ, for each ofthe users 15 and collectively for all ofthe users 15 of network 11. The network 11 as a whole operates as a function of the network parameters. For example, a system parameter, S(α, σ, λ, τ), is a function of all or some subset of the users 15 needing service and is a function of the network resources 9 available to provide service considering the link parameters, , the signal parameters, σ, the location parameters, λ, and the time parameters, τ, for all ofthe users 15 and the network resources 9.

The network controllers 8 are distributed in FIG. 7 in the manner indicated in FIG. 4. In FIG. 7, the network controller 8-0 in the zone manager 20 is a server network controller or a client network controller depending, among other things, on the direction of data transfer and the other network controllers 8-1, 8-2 and 8-3 in the collectors Cl, C2 and C3 are client network controllers or server network controllers depending, among other things, on the direction of data transfer.

The distributed components of network controller 8-0 include the FIG. 3 components, namely, server network applications 31, server network operating system 32, server network processors 33 and server network stores 34. The server network stores 34 include the current data store for storing data ofthe TABLE 1 and TABLE 2 type, a quality-history store, a path-history store, a program store for storing the network operating system 32 and network applications 31. The server network applications 31 include the transfer applications, such as the data multiplexer application, and utility applications. The utility applications include a resource application that operates to determine resource parameters, R(α, σ, λ, τ) which among other things identifies the collectors (Cl, C2 and C3) available, operational features ofthe collectors (for example, confidence metric parameters, micro-diversity, aggregation and non-aggregation modes, location and time off-sets from server time, current users and channel assignments) and the features ofthe zone manager (for example, confidence metric parameters, the presence of micro- diversity and the number of micro-diverse antennas for collectors, aggregation and non-aggregation modes, location and time off-sets from other zone managers and the current user load for the channels in use). The utility applications include system parameter, S(α, σ, λ, τ), application for keeping track of the users 15 needing service and the network resources made available to provide service. The server network operating system 32 includes a scheduler task for scheduling the operations ofthe network applications 31 and the other operations ofthe network controller 8. The server network processors 33 are any one or more processors for executing the network applications 31 and the network operating system 32. In general, the server network applications 31, server network operating system

32, server network processors 33 and server network stores 34 within the network controller 8-0 of FIG. 7 correspond to the components of modules 31-1, 32-1, 33- 1 and 34-1 with reference to FIG. 3.

The distributed components of network controllers 8-1, 8-2 and 8-3 in a conceptually simple embodiment are substantially identical to those in the network controller 8-0 except that they are made to function as clients or servers, the opposite as the functioning of controller 8-0 depending on the network application and other factors. With reference to FIG. 4 and FIG. 7, a network controller 8-1 for collector Cl includes the distributed components 31-2, 32-2, 33-2 and 34-2 ,a network controller 8-2 for collector C2 includes the distributed components 31-3,

32-3, 33-3 and 34-3 (not explicitly shown in FIG. 4) and a network controller 8-3 for collector C3 includes the distributed components 31-4, 32-4, 33-4 and 34-4 (not explicitly shown in FIG. 4). In actual practice, however, the requirements of the network controllers 8-1, 8-2 and 8-3 are generally less so that for economy, only a subset ofthe components ofthe network controller 8-0 need be mirrored in the network controllers 8-1, 8-2 and 8-3. Network Operating System - FIG. 14

In FIG. 14, the architecture ofthe network operating system 32 of FIG. 3 is shown and is that of a real-time operating system with the conventional structure, features and capabilities of such operating systems. The architecture is different in that it is a wireless operating system in that components of the operating system are interconnected over wireless links in a communications network. In addition to the conventional structure, features and capabilities, the network operating system 32 includes in one embodiment the communications architecture ofthe following TABLE 3.

TABLE 3

Network Operating System Scheduler Task Synchronizer Task Priority Task Conventional Tasks

Network Applications

Output Applications Data Transfer Multipoint Data Transfer E911

User Location Report

Operation And Maintenance Reports

Utility Applications

User Location Detect And Location Store Update User Direction and Rate of Travel

Network Resources Assignment and Control Link Quality Detect And Quality-History Store Update User Path Detect And Path-History Store Update Channel Assignment And Control Channel Handover

Network Resources Selection (Broadcasters/Collectors) Referring to TABLE 3, FIG. 3 and FIG. 14, the network operating system 32, in addition to conventional tasks 84, includes, for example, a scheduler task 81 , a synchronizer task 80 and a priority task 82. The scheduler task 81 functions to schedule execution of the network applications 31. The synchronizer task 80 functions to synchronize the server execution with the client execution. The priority task 82 functions to control the prioritization of scheduled executions of network applications 31 and detects and responds to high priority events and the network applications that are affected. Each instance (for example, a server instance and a client instance) ofthe network operating system of FIG. 14 can be executed on one or more ofthe network processors 33 as indicated in FIG. 3 and in FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 14, an embodiment ofthe network operating system 32- 1 is shown that can be both a server instance and a client instance ofthe network operating system. The network operating system 32-1 includes conventional tasks 84, scheduler task 81, a synchronizer task 80 and a priority task 82. The scheduler task 81 schedules conventional tasks 84 and network applications 31 requiring execution. The network applications 31 requiring execution are stored in the network operating system (NOS) queues 83 including the priority queue 83-1, the repeat queue 83-2 and the demand queue 83-3. The demand queue 83-2 queues output applications that are added to the demand queue by the queue load 89. The queue load 89 is supplied by network applications from various sources including internally generated requests from the network operating system 32-1 at input 88 and by network applications detected by the channel analyzer 85. The channel analyzer 85 functions to monitor activity on the channels to detect output applications that require scheduling. The repeat queue 83-2 queues utility applications that are repeatedly executed to keep the system parameters and other information current. The priority queue 83-1 queues priority applications that need priority attention as determined by the priority task 82. The priority task 82 monitors the activity ofthe queue load 89 to detect high priority applications, such as E911 applications, and grants such applications priority to the scheduler task 81. Scheduled tasks from the scheduler task 81 are then synchronized in the synchronizer task 80 to insure coordination between client and server embodiments ofthe network operating system 32.

Server/Client Architecture - FIG. 15 In FIG. 15, a server network controller 8-0 and a client network controller

8-1 ofthe type described in connection with FIG. 3 with a network processor 33 and network stores 34. The network stores 34 include the network operating system 32 and network applications 31 including output applications and utility applications. The manner in which the network controllers 8-0 and 8-1 operate in connection with the data multiplexer application of FIG. 9 is as follows assuming that the data message of FIG. 10 is to be transferred from a zone manager 20 to a user 15 (the opposite direction to that previously described) under control ofthe server network controller 8-0 and the client network controller 8-1 of FIG. 15. In FIG. 15, two instances ofthe network operating system 32-1 of FIG.

14 are invoked, one for the network controller 8-0 having modules with subscripts ZM and one for the network controller 8-1 having modules with subscripts Ul. Referring to FIG. 9 and FIG. 15, the network controller 8-0 includes, for example, message module 28, MM^, transfer module 27, TM^, link module 26, LM^, and parameter module 25, PM_ZM. Referring to FIG. 9 and FIG. 15, the network controller 8-1 includes, for example, the message module 28, MM_m, transfer module 27, TM_m, link module 26, LM_m and parameter module 25, PM_m.

The module, MM_ZM, includes, for example, a Server_ID, a Client lD, DataMessage_LD and a DataMessage_Length and places through the queue load 89 of FIG. 14 the transfer application for the data message on the demand queue

83-3. The module LM^ includes, for example, a Server D, a Client_TD, a DataMessage_LO, a Channel lD and aLink_LD for identifying the channel and link over which the data message is to be sent. The module PM^- includes, for example, a ServerJOD, a Client_LD, a DataMessage lD, a ChannelJOD, a LinkJDD and user parameters P^ for the particular data link between user 15 and zone manager 20. The parameter processing, relying on utility applications, determines the current location, λ_c of Ul, the estimated path of Ul and where on the estimated path the transfer characteristic, TC, is less thanBER_T. The module TM^ includes, for example, a Server LD, a Client_ID, a DataMessage_TD, a Channel_ID and a Link_LO. The module TM^, for locations on the estimated path of Ul where TC is less than BER_T, partitions the Data Message into one or more segments. For transfer ofthe data message, the module TM^ issues a Message_TransferMethod (one of the transfer applications of LIST1 and in the present example Data Multiplexer), Message_Length, No_Segments, Message_Start, intermediate segment messages, if any, and Message_End. The intermediate segment messages include Segment l_Start, Segment l_End, Segment2_Start, Segment2_End, ..., SegmentL_Start, SegmentL_End. Assuming that the FIG. 12 segmentation is employed, the module TM_ZM issues a Message_TransferMethod (Data Multiplexer), Message_Length (10), No_Segments (2), Message_Start (t=2), Segmentl_Start (t=2), Segmentl_End (t=8), Segment2_Start (t=l 6), Segment2_-

End (t=20) and Message_End (t=20).

The module, MM_uls receives a ServerJD, a Client_ID, DataMessage_ID and a DataMessage_Length and places on the priority queue 83-1 through the queue load 89 and priority task 82 of FIG. 14 a transfer application to control receipt ofthe data message. The module LM_m receives a Server_LO, a Client_ID, a DataMessage_TD, a Channel_LD and a LinkJD for identifying the channel and link over which the data message is being sent. The module PM^ receives a Server_LD, a Client_LD, a DataMessage_ID, a Channel_ID, a Link_LD and, assuming in the embodiment described that the user has the capability to calculate BER, calculates user parameters P_m including the actual BER for the transfer of the data message over the particular data link between user 15 and zone manager 20. The parameter processing determines when the transfer characteristic, TC, is less than BER_T during the data message transfer. The module TM_m receives a Server ID, a Client_LD, a DataMessageJD, a Channel ID and a LinkJD. The module TM , for locations on the estimated path of Ul where TC is greater than BER_T, determines if the Data Message segments are active, that a Segment_Start has been received and a Segment_End has not. During transfer of the data message, the module TM_m looks for a Message_TransferMethod, Message_- Length,No_Segments, Message_Start, intermediate segment messages, if any, and Message_End. With the FIG. 12 segmentation, the module TM_m receives a

Message_TransferMethod (Data Multiplexer), Message ength (10), No_Segments (2), Message_Start (t=2), Segmentl_Start (t=2), SegmentlJEnd (t=8), Segment2_Start (t=16), Segment2_End (t=20) and MessageJEnd (1=20). In embodiments where the users have the ability to detect BER, if any high BER error condition is detected during any one of the segments, the error condition is reported by the client network controller 8-1 to the server network controller 8-0 for appropriate resend or other operation.

During a high BER period such as between t=10 and t=14 in FIG. 11 for example, communications over the channel may be lost such that the channel needs to be reestablished. Upon reestablishment of the channel, only unsent segments need to be sent, for example the segment from t=16 to t=20 in FIG. 12 in the example described.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention.

Claims

Claims

1. A communications network for communications in one or more communications zones comprising: a plurality of users in said communication zones, each user for communicating over channels using messages, a plurality of communication resources for said communication zones, said communication resources for communications with said users over said channels, a plurality of links for connecting said users to corresponding communication resources for transferring said messages over said channels, network controller means including, network applications for controlling the communications among users and network resources as a function of system parameters including a location parameter, network stores for storing information including system parameters, a network operating system for integrating the operation ofthe network applications and the network controller means, network processors for processing the network applications and the network operating system to control communications among users and network resources.

2. The communications network of Claim 1 wherein said network controller means has network controller components distributed at multiple locations in the communications network.

3. The communications network of Claim 2 wherein said network controller components include server components and client components that cooperate in a server/client relationship to control communications among users and network resources.

4. The commumcations network of Claim 1 wherein, said links include wireless data links having from time to time transfer characteristics that exhibit changes that affect the quality of transfers of said messages, said system parameters include quality parameters that represent the quality of transfers over said wireless data links, said network applications include a transfer application for controlling the scheduling ofthe transfer of said messages to adjust for changes in said transfer characteristics.

5. The communications network of Claim 4 wherein quality is measured as a bit error rate.

6. The communications network of Claim 1 wherein, said network applications include utility applications and one or more output applications.

7. The communications network of Claim 5 wherein said output applications include a data multiplexer application.

8. The communications network of Claim 7 wherein said data multiplexer application includes a message module for providing messages, a link module for controlling links for transferring said messages, a parameter module for processing system parameters to determine specific locations of users where said messages with high quality can be transmitted over the established links, and a transfer module for transferring said messages at said locations of users.

9. The communications network of Claim 7 wherein said data multiplexer application partitions data messages into segments and controls the times when and locations where said segments are transferred.

10. The communications network of Claim 7 wherein said data multiplexer application partitions a data message having a message length, Message_-

Length, into a number of segments, No_Segments, where the data message is transmitted with a message start time indicator, Message_Start and is terminated with a message stop time indicator, Message Stop, and wherein one or more segments 1, 2, ..., L between Message_Start and Message_Stop are sent with segment start and stop indicators Segmentl_Start, Segmentl_End;

Segment2_Start, Segment2_End; ..., SegmentL_Start, SegmentL_End whereby each of said one or more segments is transferred at said specific locations of users where said messages with high quality can be transmitted.

11. The communications network of Claim 6 wherein said utility applications include a location application for determining the locations of users.

12. The communications network of Claim 6 wherein said utility applications include a speed application for determining the speeds of users.

13. The communications network of Claim 6 wherein said utility applications include a system application that operates to determine system parameters, S(α, σ, λ, τ).

14. The communications network of Claim 13 wherein said system application determines the location of interferers in the communications network.

15. The communications network of Claim 6 wherein said utility applications include a bandwidth application for determining bandwidth allocation in the communications network.

16. The communications network of Claim 6 wherein said utility applications include a resource application that operates to determine resource parameters,

R( , σ, λ, τ).

17. The communications network of Claim 16 wherein said resource application identifies collectors and operational features ofthe collectors used in transferring messages.

18. The communications network of Claim 16 wherein said resource application identifies zone managers and operational features of zone managers used in connection with transferring messages.

19. The communications network of Claim 6 wherein said utility applications include a confidence metric application for determining confidence metric parameters in the communications network.

20. The communications network of Claim 1 wherein, said network stores include a quality store for storing quality parameters for locations within said region to indicate the quality of communications at said locations, said network controller includes a transfer application that compares the current location of said user with locations in said location store to detect the stored quality of communications at said current location.

21. The communications network of Claim 1 wherein, said network stores include a path store for storing path information identifying paths of locations within said region followed by users, said network controller includes a network application for predicting a path of future locations of a particular user and comparing said future locations with locations in said quality store to detect the stored quality of communications at said future, said network controller includes a transfer application that permits data transfers at ones of said future locations as a function ofthe stored quality of communications at said future locations.

22. The communications network of Claim 21 wherein, said network controller includes a utility application for updating said quality store for locations at which the quality of communications are detected.

23. The communications network of Claim 1 wherein, said users are mobile and have locations that can change from time to time, said transfer characteristics are a function of said locations and where for specific locations the transfer characteristics exhibit low quality, said network controller includes a transfer application that adjusts said commumcations network to prevent transfers of said messages when said transfer characteristics exhibit low quality and said particular user is at said specific locations.

24. The commumcations network of Claim 1 wherein said network controller includes server components and client components that cooperate in a server/client relationship to control communications among users and network resources.

25. The commumcations network of Claim 1 wherein, said users are mobile and capable of traveling in a broadcaster zone, each of said users including user receiver means for receiving forward channel communications and including transmitter means for transmitting reverse channel commumcations, said communications resources include, broadcaster means having a broadcaster transmitter for broadcasting said forward channel commumcations in said broadcaster zone, collector means including collector receiver means active to receive said reverse channel communications for ones of said plurality of users, aggregator means for receiving said collector reverse channel communications from said collector means.

26. The communication system of Claim 25 wherein said collector receiver means includes micro-diverse antenna.

27. The communication system of Claim 25 wherein said collector means includes a plurality of macro-diverse collectors.

28. The communication system of Claim 25 wherein said forward channel communications and said reverse channel communications have a TDMA protocol.

29. The communication system of Claim 25 wherein said forward channel communications and said reverse channel communications have a CDMA protocol.

30. The communication system of Claim 25 wherein said forward channel communications and said reverse channel communications have a wide band CDMA protocol.

31. The communication system of Claim 25 wherein said forward channel commumcations and said reverse channel communications have a SDMA protocol.

32. The communication system of Claim 25 wherein said forward channel communications and said reverse channel communications have a FDMA protocol.

33. The communications network of Claim 25 wherein said network controller components include server components and client components that cooperate in a server/client relationship to control communications among users and network resources and wherein, dependant on the direction of data transfer, said collector means can function as a server or a client and wherein said aggregator means can function as a client or a server.

34. The communications network of Claim 1 wherein said network operating system includes queues for queuing network applications to be executed, a scheduler task for scheduling network applications in said queues and a synchronizer task for synchronizing scheduled tasks.

35. The communications network of Claim 34 wherein said network operating system includes a priority task recognizing high priority network applications for priority scheduling by said scheduling task.

36. The communications network of Claim 1 wherein said system parameters include a user performance parameter, U(α, σ, λ, τ) for indicating properties of a user where α is link parameter that indicates properties of an RF spectrum resource that is reused by different resources in the communications network , σ is a signal parameter that indicates the quality of an RF signal, λ is a location parameter that indicates a location in a communication zone, and τ is a time parameter.

37. The commumcations network of Claim 1 wherein said network operating system includes, queues for queuing network applications to be executed including a priority queue for queuing high priority network applications, a repeat queue for storing utility applications, and a demand queue for queuing output applications, a scheduler task for scheduling network applications in said queues, a synchronizer task for synchronizing scheduled tasks, a priority task for recognizing high priority network applications and for queuing said high priority network applications in said priority queue for priority scheduling by said scheduling task, a queue load for queuing network applications in said queues, said queue load responsive to a channel analyzer for queuing network applications active on a channel that require execution and responsive to an internal input for queuing network applications identified by the network operating system as requiring execution.

38. The communications network of Claim 1 wherein a plurality of said communications zones are present where said zones overlap in communications coverage for users in a region and wherein communications in said region are under control of a region manager where said region manager includes a region network controller for communicating with said network controller means for each of said zones.

39. In a commumcations network for communications in one or more communications zones with a plurality of users in said communication zones, each user for communicating over channels using messages, with a plurality of communication resources for said communication zones, said communication resources for communications with said users over said channels, with a plurality of links for connecting said users to corresponding communication resources for transferring said messages over said channels, a method of controlling the communications network comprising: controlling with network applications the commumcations among users and network resources as a function of system parameters including a location parameter, storing in network stores information including system parameters, integrating with a network operating system the operation ofthe network applications, the users and the communication resources, processing in network processors the network applications and the network operating system to control communications among users and network resources.

40. The communications method of Claim 39 having network controller components including network applications, network stores, network operating system components and network processors distributed at multiple locations in the communications network.

41. The communications method of Claim 40 wherein said network controller components include server components and client components that cooperate in a server/client relationship to control commumcations among users and network resources.

42. The communications method of Claim 39 wherein, said links include wireless data links having from time to time transfer characteristics that exhibit changes that affect the quality of transfers of said messages, said system parameters include quality parameters that represent the quality of transfers over said wireless data links, said network applications include a transfer application for controlling the scheduling ofthe transfer of said messages to adjust for changes in said transfer characteristics.

43. The communications method of Claim 42 wherein quality is measured as a bit error rate.

44. The communications method of Claim 39 wherein, said network applications include utility applications and one or more output applications.

45. The communications method of Claim 44 wherein said output applications include a data multiplexer application.

46. The communications method of Claim 45 wherein said data multiplexer application includes a message module for providing messages, a hnk module for controlling links for transferring said messages, a parameter module for processing system parameters to determine specific locations of users where said messages with high quality can be transmitted over the established links, and a transfer module for transferring said messages at said locations of users.

47. The communications method of Claim 45 wherein said data multiplexer apphcation partitions a data message having a message length, Message_- Length, into a number of segments, No_Segments, where the data message is transmitted with a message start time indicator, Message_Start and is terminated with a message stop time indicator, Message_Stop, and wherein one or more segments 1, 2, ..., L between Message_Start and Message_Stop are sent with segment start and stop indicators Segment l_Start, Segmentl JSnd; Segment2_Start, Segment2_End; ..., SegmentL_Start, SegmentLJEnd whereby each of said one or more segments is transferred at said specific locations of users where said messages with high quality can be transmitted.

48. The communications method of Claim 44 wherein said utility applications include a location application for determining the locations of users.

49. The communications method of Claim 48 wherein, said network stores include a quality store for storing quality parameters for locations within said region that exhibit poor quality communications, said network controller includes a transfer application that compares the current location of said user with locations in said location store to detect locations that exhibit poor quality communications.

50. The communications method of Claim 48 wherein, said network stores include a path store for storing path information identifying paths of locations within said region followed by users, said network controller includes a network application for predicting a path of future locations of a particular user and comparing said future locations with locations in said quality store to detect future locations that are likely to exhibit poor quality communications, said network controller includes a transfer application that permits data transfers at ones of said future locations that are not likely to exhibit poor quality communications.

51. The communications method of Claim 50 wherein, said network controller includes a utility application for updating said quality store for locations at which poor quality communications are detected.

52. The communications method of Claim 48 wherein, said users are mobile and have locations that can change from time to time, said transfer characteristics are a function of said locations and where for specific locations the transfer characteristics exhibit low quality, said network controller includes a transfer application that adjusts said communications network to prevent transfers of said messages when said transfer characteristics exhibit low quality and said particular user is at said specific locations.

53. The communications method of Claim 48 wherein said network controller includes server components and client components that cooperate in a server/client relationship to control communications among users and network resources.

54. The communications method of Claim 48 wherein, said users are mobile and capable of traveling in a broadcaster zone, each of said users including user receiver means for receiving forward channel communications and including transmitter means for transmitting reverse channel communications, said communications resources include, broadcaster means having a broadcaster transmitter for broadcasting said forward channel communications in said broadcaster zone, collector means including collector receiver means active to receive said reverse channel commumcations for ones of said plurality of users, aggregator means for receiving said collector reverse channel communications from said collector means.

55. The communications method of Claim 48 wherein said network operating system includes, queues for queuing network applications to be executed including a priority queue for queuing high priority network applications, a repeat queue for storing utility applications, and a demand queue for queuing output applications, a scheduler task for scheduling network applications in said queues, a synchronizer task for synchronizing scheduled tasks, a priority task for recognizing high priority network applications and for queuing said high priority network applications in said priority queue for priority scheduling by said scheduhng task, a queue load for queuing network applications in said queues, said queue load responsive to a channel analyzer for queuing network applications active on a channel that require execution and responsive to an internal input for queuing network applications identified by the network operating system as requiring execution.

56. The commumcations method of Claim 48 wherein a plurality of said communications zones are present where said zones overlap in communications coverage for users in a region and wherein communications in said region are under control of a region manager where said region manager includes a region network controller for communicating with said network controller means for each of said zones.