COMMUNICATION NETWORK FOR INDOOR ENVIRONMENT

• US 20070224931A1
• Filed: 05/16/2007
• Published: 09/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Leong, Siew, FITTON, MICHAEL, Gargin, Douglas
• Granted Patent: US 7,761,050 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/7
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2606 Arrangements for base station coverage control, e.g. by using relays in tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/26 Cell enhancers or enhancement, e.g. for tunnels, building shadow
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/02 Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

The present invention relates to wireless communication networks particularly for indoor deployment, in which there typically directly exists a rapidly changing multipath propagation environment with limited opportunities for line of sight wireless communication. The present invention provides A wireless communications network for communicating with a mobile terminal; comprising: a number of repeater points each comprising means for communicating with the mobile terminal; an access point comprising means for communicating with the repeater points; the repeater points further comprising means for relaying signals between the terminal and the access point; means for determining a quality measure of signals sent by the terminal and received by the access point via the repeater points; means for selecting one or more repeater points to relay transmission signals from the access point to the terminal, said selection based on said quality measures of the terminal signals received by the access point.

Claims

1. A wireless communications network for communicating with a mobile terminal, comprising:

a number of repeater points having overlapping coverage areas and each comprising transceivers for communicating wirelessly with the mobile terminal;

an access point comprising transceivers for communicating with the repeater points;

the repeater points further comprising means for relaying signals between the terminal and the access point;

a signal quality measurement apparatus for determining a quality measure of signals sent by the terminal and received by the access point via the repeater points; and

a selector for selecting one or more repeater points to relay transmission signals from the access point to the terminal, said selection based on said quality measures of the terminal signals received by the access point.

2. The network according to claim 1, wherein the access point transceivers comprise a wireless link between said access point and a said repeater point and having directional antennas.

3. The network according to claim 1, wherein the access point transceivers comprise a cable link between said access point and a said repeater point.

4. The network according to claim 1, wherein the selector selects one or more repeater points having a received signal quality measure above a predetermined threshold, said threshold corresponding to a line of sight signal path between the terminal and the access point via one or more repeater points.

5. The network according to claim 1, wherein the access point further comprises a transceiver for communicating directly with the mobile terminal and wherein the selector is further arranged to select between said repeater points and the direct access point communication transceiver for transmitting to said terminal.

6. The network according to claim 1, wherein the signal quality measure of a terminal signal received via a repeater point is based on a predetermined quality of each combined wireless link between a said repeater point and the terminal and that said repeater point and the access point.

7. The network according to claim 1, wherein the signal quality measure of a terminal signal received via a repeater point is based on a predetermined quality of said received signals.

8. The network according to claim 2 and arranged such that the access point has a line of sight (LOS) path to each repeater point and wherein the access point and the repeater points each comprises directional antennas.

9. The network according to claim 1, wherein the access and repeater points are located to form a pyramid in 3D space.

10. An access point for a wireless communications network comprising a number of repeaters for communicating with a mobile terminal, comprising:

transceivers for communicating with the repeaters;

a signal quality measurement apparatus for determining a quality measure of signals sent by the terminal and received by the access point via the repeater points; and

a selector for selecting one or more repeater points to relay transmission signals from the access point to the terminal, said selection based on said quality measures of the terminal signals received by the access point.

11. The access point according to claim 10, wherein the selector selects one or more repeater points having a received signal quality measure above a predetermined threshold, said threshold corresponding to a line of sight signal path between the terminal and the access point via one or more repeater points.

12. The access point according to claim 10, further comprising a transceiver for communicating directly with the mobile terminal and wherein the selector is further arranged to select between said repeater points and the direct access point transceiver for transmitting to said terminal.

13. The access point according to claim 10, wherein the signal quality measure of a terminal signal received via a repeater point is based on a predetermined quality of each combined wireless link between a said repeater point and the terminal and that said repeater point and the access point.

14. The access point according to claim 10, wherein the signal quality measure of a terminal signal received via a repeater point is based on a predetermined quality of said received signals.

15. The access point according to claim 10, further comprising directional antennas directed in use to said repeater points.

16. A repeater point for a wireless communications network comprising an access point and a number of repeater points for communicating with a mobile terminal;

comprising

a transceiver for communicating with the mobile terminal and a transceiver for communicating with the access point in order to relay signals between said terminal and said access point;

a signal quality measurement apparatus for determining a quality measure of signals sent by the terminal and received by the repeater point, and arranged to forward said quality measure to said access point; and

a transmission power controller for controlling transmission power of said repeater point.