A two-way pager for providing two-way communication of alphanumeric messages over the global system for mobile communications (gsm/gprs) network

The present invention provides a communication system for transmitting messages from one or more dispatcher stations to and from one or more stand-alone, two-way pagers via a relatively low bit rate radio frequency communication channel, namely, the short messages service (SMS) of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM/GPRS) cellular telephone network. The paging system of the present invention utilizes a communications protocol which allows a dispatcher station and a pager of the paging system to communicate over the GSM/GPRS network in a predetermined manner. When the dispatcher station sends a message to a pager of the present invention, the message may contain steering codes which inform the pager of the manner in which the message is to be treated. For example, if the message is time-critical, the pager is notified by the steering code that a response to the message must be transmitted within a predetermined time interval. If the pager does not transmit a response within the predetermined time interval, the pager is not allowed to respond to the message. The steering codes may also indicate whether or not the user of the pager must respond with a preprogrammed answer. If the steering code indicates that the user must respond with a preprogrammed answer which has been previously stored in the memory of the pager, the only response the user is allowed to transmit is one of the preprogrammed answers. Otherwise, the user may transmit a different type of response, such as, for example, a message which the user types in using the alphanumeric keypad of the pager.