AUTOMATIC ANTENNA OPTIMIZATION SYSTEM

• US 20100177000A1
• Filed: 01/15/2009
• Published: 07/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: FRERKING, MELVIN, BRISEBOIS, ARTHUR
• Application Number:
  US12/354,157
• Publication Number:
  US 20100177000A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 343/703
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/1257 using the received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/04 for varying one co-ordinate of the orientation

Abstract

The claimed subject matter provides a system and/or a method that facilitates receiving a terrestrial broadcast service from a transmitter. An antenna steering component can automatically maneuver a directional antenna with a 360 degree azimuth sweep in order to collect information related to a signal quality for a channel and a corresponding transmitter. An antenna system controller can ascertain an antenna azimuth for the directional antenna for each channel based upon the collected information, wherein the antenna azimuth corresponds to a position of the directional antenna that receives a level of reception from the transmitter.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates receiving a terrestrial broadcast service from a transmitter, comprising:

an antenna steering component that automatically maneuvers a directional antenna with a 360 degree azimuth sweep in order to collect information related to a signal quality for a channel and a corresponding transmitter; and

an antenna system controller that ascertains an antenna azimuth for the directional antenna for each channel based upon the collected information, the antenna azimuth corresponds to a position of the directional antenna that receives a level of reception from the transmitter.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a user device equipment that receives the level of reception from the transmitter related to an over the air broadcast.

3. The system of claim 2, the over the air broadcast relates to at least one of a high definition (HD) television signal, a satellite signal, an analog signal, a digital signal, a wireless signal, a network signal, or a server communication.

4. The system of claim 3, the antenna system controller receives a channel request from the user device equipment, the channel request corresponds to a channel that correlates to a specific transmitter.

5. The system of claim 4, the antenna system controller instructs the directional antenna to a position to receive a transmission for the specific transmitter in accordance with the 360 degree azimuth sweep.

6. The system of claim 1, the level of reception is defined by at least one of a pre-defined level of signal quality, a measurement of signal quality, a percentage of a signal quality, a percentage of a maximum signal quality, a maximum detected signal quality from the transmitter, or a defined level of signal quality.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising two or more user device equipment that provide two or more channel requests.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising a multi-channel evaluator that ascertains a position for the directional antenna based upon an analysis of the collected information, the collected information relates to two or more transmitters.

9. The system of claim 8, the multi-channel evaluator identifies a position for the directional antenna to receive reception for the two or more transmitters related to the channel requests based upon the analysis.

10. The system of claim 9, the analysis relates to at least one of a user device equipment priority level, a user defined channel ranking, a level of an average signal quality for the channel requests, a weighted averaging of the channel requests, an un-weighted averaging of the channel requests, a worst-case optimization, or a worst-case thresholding.

11. The system of claim 1, the directional antenna is in a scanning mode that continuously gathers information with the 360 degree azimuth sweep, the gathered information relates to a plurality of positions and corresponding signal strength for a plurality of transmitters.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising a second directional antenna that is in a reception mode to handle a channel request.

13. The system of claim 12, the second directional antenna maneuvers to a position for a received channel request based at least in part upon the directional antenna in the scanning mode that continuously gathers information.

14. The system of claim 1, the antenna system controller implements a periodic 360 azimuth sweep to collect information related to a signal quality for a channel and a corresponding transmitter.

15. The system of claim 1, the directional antenna:

identifies a tuned channel via detection of a local oscillator frequency from outside a receiver enclosure and forwards the aforementioned tuned channel information to the antenna system controller via at least one of a wired or wireless mechanism.

16. A computer-implemented method that facilitates optimizing a directional antenna for reception of a transmission over the air, comprising:

utilizing a directional antenna to survey over the air signal strength for at least one transmitter with an azimuth sweep;

analyzing the collected signal strength data to identify a position for the directional antenna to receive data from at least one transmitter; and

receiving a transmission from the transmitter based upon the directional antenna at the identified position.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

continuously employing the azimuth sweep with a first directional antenna to gather an antenna position for a transmitter corresponding to a channel;

utilizing a second directional antenna to receive a transmission from a transmitter, the second directional antenna is positioned based upon the gathered antenna position for the transmitter;

receiving the transmission at a user device equipment for a level of reception;

identifying tuned channel information via a detection of local oscillator frequency from outside a receiver enclosure; and

forwarding the tuned channel information to be utilized for receiving the transmission via at least one of a wired mechanism or a wireless mechansim.

18. The method of claim 17, the user device equipment receives the level of reception from the transmitter related to an over the air broadcast, the over the air broadcast relates to at least one of a high definition (HD) television signal, a satellite signal, an analog signal, a digital signal, a wireless signal, a network signal, or a server communication.

19. The method of claim 17, the level of reception is defined by at least one of a pre-defined level of signal quality, a measurement of signal quality, a percentage of a signal quality, a percentage of a maximum signal quality, a maximum detected signal quality from the transmitter, or a defined level of signal quality.

20. A computer-implemented system that facilitates receiving a terrestrial broadcast service from a transmitter, comprising:

means for automatically maneuvering a directional antenna with a 360 degree azimuth sweep in order to collect information related to a signal quality for a channel and a corresponding transmitter; and

means for ascertaining an antenna azimuth for the directional antenna for each channel based upon the collected information, the antenna azimuth corresponds to a position of the directional antenna that receives a level of reception from the transmitter;

means for receiving a channel request corresponding to the transmitter;

means for positioning the directional antenna for the channel request based upon the collected information;

means for identifying tuned channel information via a detection of local oscillator frequency from outside a receiver enclosure; and

means for forwarding the tuned channel information to be utilized for collecting information related to the signal quality via at least one of a wired mechanism or a wireless mechanism.