DISTRIBUTED ANTENNA SYSTEM USING GIGABIT ETHERNET PHYSICAL LAYER DEVICE
First Claim
1. A distributed antenna system for distributing radio frequency signals within a coverage area, the system comprising:
- a first unit; and
a second unit communicatively coupled to the first unit using a gigabit ETHERNET compatible communication medium;
wherein the first unit and the second unit include respective non-ETHERNET compatible media control devices and respective ETHERNET compatible physical layer devices;
wherein the first unit receives radio frequency signals and generates a digital representation of the radio frequency signals;
wherein the first unit transmits at least a portion of the digital representation of the radio frequency signals to the second unit over the gigabit ETHERNET compatible communication medium; and
wherein the second unit reconstructs analog radio frequency signals from the received digital representation of the radio frequency signals for radiation within the coverage area.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
One embodiment is directed to a distributed antenna system for distributing radio frequency signals within a coverage area. The system comprises a first unit and a second unit that is communicatively coupled to the first unit using a gigabit ETHERNET compatible communication medium. The first unit and the second unit include respective non-ETHERNET compatible media control devices and respective ETHERNET compatible physical layer devices. The first unit receives radio frequency signals and generates a digital representation of the radio frequency signals. The first unit transmits at least a portion of the digital representation of the radio frequency signals to the second unit over the gigabit ETHERNET compatible communication medium. The second unit reconstructs analog radio frequency signals from the received digital representation of the radio frequency signals for radiation within the coverage area.
101 Citations
45 Claims
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1. A distributed antenna system for distributing radio frequency signals within a coverage area, the system comprising:
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a first unit; and a second unit communicatively coupled to the first unit using a gigabit ETHERNET compatible communication medium; wherein the first unit and the second unit include respective non-ETHERNET compatible media control devices and respective ETHERNET compatible physical layer devices; wherein the first unit receives radio frequency signals and generates a digital representation of the radio frequency signals; wherein the first unit transmits at least a portion of the digital representation of the radio frequency signals to the second unit over the gigabit ETHERNET compatible communication medium; and wherein the second unit reconstructs analog radio frequency signals from the received digital representation of the radio frequency signals for radiation within the coverage area. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A host unit for distributing analog downlink radio frequency signals within a coverage area, the host unit comprising:
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a down-mixer to downconvert the analog downlink radio frequency signals to analog downlink intermediate frequency signals; an analog-to-digital converter to generate a digital representation of the analog downlink radio frequency signals by digitizing the analog downlink intermediate frequency signals; a non-ETHERNET compatible media access control device to frame the digital representation of the analog downlink radio frequency signals; and a gigabit ETHERNET physical layer device to transmit the framed digital representation of the analog downlink radio frequency signals to a remote antenna unit that is communicatively coupled to the host unit using a gigabit ETHERNET compatible communication medium; and the gigabit ETHERNET physical layer device transmitting the framed digital representation of the analog downlink radio frequency signals on the gigabit ETHERNET compatible communication medium to the remote antenna unit for use by the remote antenna unit in reconstructing the analog downlink radio frequency signals from the received framed digital representation of the downlink radio frequency signals for radiation within the coverage area. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A remote antenna unit for use in distributing analog downlink radio frequency signals within a coverage area, the remote antenna unit comprising:
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a gigabit ETHERNET physical layer device to receive a framed digital representation of the analog downlink radio frequency signals from a gigabit Ethernet compatible communication medium, wherein a host unit that is coupled to the gigabit ETHERNET compatible communication medium receives the analog downlink radio frequency signals and generates the framed digital representation of the analog downlink radio frequency signals; a non-ETHERNET compatible media access control device to extract the digital representation of the analog downlink radio frequency signals from the framed digital representation of the analog downlink radio frequency signals; a digital-to-analog converter to reconstruct analog downlink intermediate frequency signals from the digital representation of the downlink radio frequency signals; and an up-mixer to upconvert the reconstructed analog downlink intermediate frequency signals in order to produce reconstructed analog downlink radio frequency signals; and wherein the reconstructed analog downlink radio frequency signals are radiated from an antenna coupled to the remote antenna unit. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A first unit for distributing analog radio frequency signals to a second unit, the first unit comprising:
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a non-ETHERNET compatible media control device; a gigabit ETHERNET compatible physical layer device; wherein the first unit is communicatively coupled to the second unit using a gigabit ETHERNET compatible communication medium; wherein the first unit receives the analog radio frequency signals and generates a digital representation of the analog radio frequency signals; wherein the first unit transmits the digital representation of the analog radio frequency signals to the second unit over the gigabit ETHERNET compatible communication medium for use by the second unit in reconstructing analog radio frequency signals from the received digital representation of the analog radio frequency signals, wherein the digital representation of the analog radio frequency signals is transmitted from the first unit to the second unit over the gigabit ETHERNET compatible communication medium using the non-ETHERNET media access control device and the gigabit ETHERNET compatible physical layer device. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38)
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39. A method of distributing radio frequency signals within a coverage area, the method comprising:
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generating a digital representation of analog radio frequency signals; framing the digital representation of the analog radio frequency signals using a first non-ETHERNET compatible media access control device in order to produce a framed digital representation of the analog radio frequency signals; and transmitting the framed digital representation of the analog radio frequency signals over a gigabit ETHERNET compatible communication medium using a first gigabit ETHERNET compatible physical layer device. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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Specification