Repeater system
First Claim
1. A communications subsystem for installation with respect to a structure, comprising:
- a repeater;
an external antenna system coupled to the repeater and including at least a portion of at least a first antenna positioned outside of the structure to provide cellular communications with a base station;
an internal antenna system coupled to the repeater and including at least a portion of at least a second antenna positioned inside of the structure to provide cellular communications with an end user communications device; and
a controller controllingly coupled to the repeater by a non-cellular communications link.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A repeater system for wireless communications applications is, in one aspect, programmable and controllable in a manner that enables multi-user, multiband, and multi-protocol operation. The repeater system includes a repeater coupled to an inside antenna system and to an outside antenna system, either or both of which may be adaptive. Inside cellular phones are coupled via links (that may be cellular or non-cellular) to the repeater and to a control unit, which is itself connected by a link to the repeater. The repeater includes a repeater core coupled to a control component. The core is constructed from a number of modules, the selection of which determines the operation and functionality of the repeater core. Core modules, selectively enabled by a user, establish one or more of the following modes of operation: passive, single-frequency active (SFA), Up/Down Converter (UDC), Remote Wireless Modem (RWM), and Shared-Identity repeater operation.
558 Citations
76 Claims
-
1. A communications subsystem for installation with respect to a structure, comprising:
-
a repeater;
an external antenna system coupled to the repeater and including at least a portion of at least a first antenna positioned outside of the structure to provide cellular communications with a base station;
an internal antenna system coupled to the repeater and including at least a portion of at least a second antenna positioned inside of the structure to provide cellular communications with an end user communications device; and
a controller controllingly coupled to the repeater by a non-cellular communications link. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. A communications subsystem for installation with respect to a structure, comprising:
-
a repeater;
an external antenna system coupled to the repeater and including at least a portion of at least a first antenna positioned outside of the structure to provide cellular communications with a base station;
an internal communications link coupled to the repeater to provide non-cellular communications with an end user communications device; and
a controller controllingly coupled to the repeater by a non-cellular communications link. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 19)
-
-
13. A communications subsystem for installation with respect to a structure, comprising:
-
an external antenna system including at least a portion of at least a first external antenna positioned outside of the structure to provide at least one of forward and reverse cellular communications with a base station;
an internal antenna system including at least a portion of at least a first internal antenna positioned inside of the structure and to provide at least one of forward and reverse cellular communications with an end user communications device; and
an Up/Down converter repeater coupled to the external antenna system and the internal antenna system to communicate with the base station at a first frequency and to communicate with the end user communications device at a second frequency, different from the first frequency.
-
-
15. A communications subsystem for installation with respect to a structure, comprising:
-
an external antenna system including at least a portion of at least a first external antenna positioned outside of the structure to provide at least one of forward and reverse cellular communications with a base station; and
an internal communications link having at least a portion of the internal communications link inside the structure to provide at least one of forward and reverse non-cellular communications with an end user communications device; and
a remote wireless modem repeater coupled to the external antenna system and the internal communications link to convert between cellular communications and non-cellular communications.
-
-
18. A communications subsystem for installation with respect to a structure, comprising:
-
an external antenna system including at least a portion of at least a first external antenna positioned outside of the structure to provide at least one of forward and reverse cellular communications with a base station; and
an internal communications link having at least a portion of the internal communications link inside the structure to provide at least one of forward and reverse non-cellular communications with an end user communications device; and
a cellular communications device coupled to the external antenna system and the internal communications link to convert between cellular communications and non-cellular communications, the cellular communications device having a set of identity data that mimics a set of identity data identifying the end user communications device.
-
-
20. A communications subsystem for installation with respect to a structure, comprising:
-
a repeater; and
a first repeater module removably couplable to the repeater to provide a first set of operating characteristics for the repeater comprising at least one of a first communications protocol, a first communications frequency band, and a first operating protocol. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
-
-
31. A communications subsystem for installation with respect to a structure, comprising:
-
a first communications link;
a second communications link; and
a repeater coupled to the first and the second communications links to transfer communications signals therebetween, the repeater comprising;
a first repeater module to provide a first set of operating characteristics for the repeater, the first set of operating characteristics comprising at least one of a first operating protocol, a first communications protocol, and a first communications frequency band; and
a second repeater module to provide a second set operating characteristics for the repeater, the second set of operating characteristics comprising at least one of a second operating protocol, a second communications protocol, and a second communications frequency band. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51)
-
-
37. A method of operating a communications subsystem, comprising:
-
receiving a forward cellular communications signal from a base station at an external antenna of an external antenna system;
receiving repeater control signals by way of a non-cellular communications link;
controlling the configuration of a repeater in response to the received control signals; and
repeating the forward communications signal at an internal antenna of an internal antenna system based at least in part on the configuration of the repeater.
-
-
38. A method of operating a communications subsystem, comprising:
-
monitoring a cellular communications signal received at an end user communications device; and
producing a non-cellular request from the end user communications device to modify at least one operating parameter of a repeater based on the monitored cellular communications signal.
-
-
45. A method of operating a communications subsystem, comprising:
-
receiving a non-cellular request from an end user communications device at a repeater over a non-cellular communications link;
modifying at least one operating parameter of the repeater based on the received non-cellular request;
receiving cellular communications at the repeater; and
repeating the received cellular communications by the repeater according to the modified operating parameters.
-
-
52. A method of operating a communications subsystem, comprising:
-
receiving at least one piece of identifying data from an end user communications device; and
basing access to at least a portion of a repeater on the received identifying data. - View Dependent Claims (53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61)
-
-
62. A method of operating a communications subsystem, comprising:
-
at a first time, transmitting cellular communications from an end user communications device at a first power level to provide cellular communications between the end user communications device and a base station; and
at a second time, transmitting cellular communications from the end user communications device at a second power level, lower than the first power level, to provide cellular communications between the end user communications device and a repeater; and
operating the repeater to provide cellular communications between the repeater and the base station. - View Dependent Claims (63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71)
-
-
69. A method of operating a communications subsystem, comprising:
-
at a first time, operating a cellular transmitter of an end user communications device at a first power level to provide cellular communications between the end user communications device and a base station; and
at a second time, operating the cellular transmitter of the end user communications device at a second power level, lower than the first power level, to provide cellular communications between the end user communications device and a repeater; and
operating the repeater to provide cellular communications between the repeater and the base station.
-
-
72. A method of operating a communications subsystem, comprising:
-
at a first time, transmitting cellular communications from an end user communications device to provide cellular communications between the end user communications device and a base station; and
at a second time, transmitting non-cellular communications from the end user communications device to provide cellular communications between the end user communications device and a repeater; and
transmitting cellular communications corresponding to the non-cellular communications from the repeater to provide cellular communications between the repeater and the base station. - View Dependent Claims (73, 74, 75, 76)
-
Specification