Sectorized smart antenna system and method
First Claim
1. A smart antenna system for a spread-spectrum transmitting and receiving station, comprising:
- a plurality of sector antennas;
at least one spread-spectrum transmitter, each configured to transmit spread-spectrum signals to be radiated from any one of the plurality of sector antennas;
at least one spread-spectrum receiver configured to process signals received by the plurality of sector antennas, wherein said signals are received at any of the plurality of sector antennas while one or more of the plurality of sector antennas are radiating;
a controller configured to;
determine one of the plural sector antennas to radiate particular spread-spectrum signals; and
cause the at least one spread-spectrum transmitter to transmit the particular spread-spectrum signals via the one antenna while not transmitting via others of the plural sector antennas.
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Abstract
A sectorized smart antenna system includes multiple sector antennas with a software control algorithm for flexible association of physical antennas to a logical serving sector to provide signal coverage in a particular region of the cell served by the base station. The control algorithm can adapt to different situations without requiring any, or only very limited, physical hardware changes to reconfigure a base station to balance the traffic load throughout the cell. The smart antenna system and method includes measuring and recording a mobile station'"'"'s signal strengths and its rate of changes received by an antenna in a serving sector relative to other antennas in either the same serving sector or different serving sector to determine the mobile station location and its movement, determining when a threshold signal level is reached, and handing-off the mobile station to an adjacent antenna, serving sector, or cell.
147 Citations
28 Claims
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1. A smart antenna system for a spread-spectrum transmitting and receiving station, comprising:
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a plurality of sector antennas;
at least one spread-spectrum transmitter, each configured to transmit spread-spectrum signals to be radiated from any one of the plurality of sector antennas;
at least one spread-spectrum receiver configured to process signals received by the plurality of sector antennas, wherein said signals are received at any of the plurality of sector antennas while one or more of the plurality of sector antennas are radiating;
a controller configured to;
determine one of the plural sector antennas to radiate particular spread-spectrum signals; and
cause the at least one spread-spectrum transmitter to transmit the particular spread-spectrum signals via the one antenna while not transmitting via others of the plural sector antennas. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for controlling plural sector antennas of a smart antenna system for a cell transmitting and receiving station, comprising the steps of:
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coupling each sector antenna of the plural sector antennas to receiving circuits;
determining one of the plural antennas to radiate signals;
selectively transmitting a spread-spectrum signal via the one antenna while not transmitting via others of the plural antennas; and
during the transmitting, configuring each of the other sector antennas to receive spread-spectrum signals. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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16. A method for performing hand-off of a mobile station in a cellular system or wireless local loop that includes a smart antenna system of plural sector antennas, comprising the steps of:
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recording signal strengths received at one or more of the plural sector antennas from the mobile station;
calculating the rates of signal changes from the recorded signal strengths;
assessing the movement of the mobile station based on the calculated rates;
determining when signal strengths received at one antenna from the mobile station reach a predetermined threshold; and
performing a hand-off of the mobile station when reaching of the predetermined threshold is so determined. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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20. A method for arranging plural sector antennas into plural serving sectors of a cell base station, comprising the steps of:
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associating with each serving sector a respective first subset of the plural sector antennas according to a first arrangement;
measuring a traffic load in each serving sector;
analyzing the measured traffic loads to determine if redistribution of the arrangement of antennas associated with the plural serving sectors should be performed;
if redistribution should be performed, calculating a balanced arrangement of antennas within the serving sectors; and
associating with each serving sector a respective second subset of plural antennas according to the balanced arrangement, wherein at least one respective subset for an associated serving sector differs from the respective first subset for the associated serving sector. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A computer readable medium bearing instructions for controlling plural sector antennas of a smart antenna system, said instructions being arranged to cause one or more processors upon execution thereof to perform the steps of:
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coupling each sector antenna of the plural sector antennas to receiving circuits;
determining one of the plural antennas to radiate signals;
selectively transmitting a spread-spectrum signal via the one antenna while not transmitting via others of the antennas; and
during the transmitting, configuring each of the other sector antennas to receive spread-spectrum signals.
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26. A computer readable medium bearing instructions for performing hand-off of a mobile station in a cellular system that includes a smart antenna system of plural sector antennas, said instructions being arranged to cause one or more processors upon execution thereof to perform the steps of:
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recording signal strengths received at one or more of the plural sector antennas from the mobile station;
calculating the rates of signal changes from the recorded signal strengths;
assessing the movement of the mobile station based on the calculated rates;
determining when signal strengths received at one antenna from the mobile station reach a predetermined threshold; and
performing a hand-off of the mobile station when reaching of the predetermined threshold is so determined.
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27. A computer readable medium bearing instructions for performing location finding of a mobile station in a cellular system that includes a smart antenna system of plural sector antennas along with a cell-site signal coverage map, said instructions being arranged to cause one or more processors upon execution thereof to perform the steps of:
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recording signal strengths received at one or more of the plural sector antennas from the mobile station;
calculating the rates of signal changes from the recorded signal strengths;
assessing the movement of the mobile station based on the calculated rates;
predicting the mobile station'"'"'s movement based on the received signal strengths, and determining the location of the mobile station by comparing the received signal strength from at least one sector antenna against the cell-site signal coverage profile along with its predicted movement.
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28. A computer readable medium bearing instructions for arranging plural sector antennas into plural serving sectors of a call base station, said instructions being arranged to cause one or more processors upon execution thereof to perform the steps of:
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associating with each serving sector a respective first subset of the plural sector antennas according to a first arrangement;
measuring a traffic load in each serving sector;
analyzing the measured traffic loads to determine if redistribution of the arrangement of antennas associated with the plural serving sectors should be performed;
if redistribution should be performed, calculating a balanced arrangement of antennas within the serving sectors; and
associating with each serving sector a respective second subset of plural antennas according to the balanced arrangement, wherein at least one respective subset for an associated serving sector differs from the respective first subset for the associated serving sector.
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Specification