REVERSE LINK POWER-CONTROLLED REPEATER

• US 20110305172A1
• Filed: 04/08/2011
• Published: 12/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Dean, Richard F.
• Granted Patent: US 8,665,774 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/279
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15535 Control of relay amplifier gain amplifier gain control in general H03G3/00; gain control reducing self - or loop interference H04B7/15578
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2606 Arrangements for base station coverage control, e.g. by using relays in tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/08 Closed loop power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/14 Separate analysis of uplink or downlink
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/146 Uplink power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/46 in multi hop networks, e.g. wireless relay networks

Abstract

The invention provides a mechanism for automatically setting reverse link gain or power for a repeater (120) used in a communication system (100) through the use of the reverse link power control of a built-in wireless communications device. By embedding a wireless communication device (430, 630, 700) inside the repeater and injecting reverse link signals of the embedded device into the reverse link of the repeater (124A, 124B), the gain of the repeater is maintained relatively constant. The embedded WCD can also be activated on a periodic basis to make calls and utilize reverse link power-control to calibrate or re-calibrate the gain of the repeater, making it a power-controlled repeater.

Claims

1. A repeater comprising:

repeater circuitry comprising;

forward link circuitry configured to receive and repeat wireless signals received at the repeater from a network device, the forward link circuitry comprising at least one forward link amplifier to amplify at least a portion of the wireless signals received at the repeater from the network device;

reverse link circuitry configured to receive and repeat wireless signals received at the repeater from a mobile device for transmission to the network device, the reverse link circuitry comprising at least one reverse link amplifier to amplify at least a portion of the wireless signals received at the repeater from the mobile device; and

a control module comprising;

a mobile station modem configured to communicate wirelessly with the network device independent of the repeated wireless signals; and

a microcontroller in communication with the modem, the microcontroller configured to receive information indicative of communications between the network device and the modem, the microcontroller further configured to generate control information using the information indicative of communications between the network device and the modem.

2. The repeater of claim 1, wherein the forward link circuitry is coupled to a first duplexer and a second duplexer, and wherein the reverse link circuitry is coupled to the first duplexer and the second duplexer.

3. The repeater of claim 2, further comprising a donor antenna and a server antenna, and wherein the first duplexer is in communication with the donor antenna and the second duplexer is in communication with the server antenna.

4. The repeater of claim 1, wherein the information indicative of communications between the network device and the modem comprises information indicative of power control signals received by the modem from the network device.

5. The repeater of claim 1, wherein the information indicative of communications between the network device and the modem comprises gain control information, and wherein the control information comprises gain control information.

6. The repeater of claim 5, wherein the gain control information comprises power control commands and the gain control information comprises reverse link power adjustments, and wherein the microcontroller is configured to reduce the power control rate by reducing the rate of reverse link power adjustments.

7. The repeater of claim 5, wherein the reverse link circuitry includes one or more variable gain elements, and wherein the microcontroller is further configured to provide the gain control information to at least one of the one or more variable gain elements of the reverse link circuitry.

8. The repeater of claim 1, wherein the modem is included in a repeater phone embedded in the repeater.

9. The repeater of claim 1, wherein the microcontroller is configured to establish communication sessions between the modem and the network device.

10. The repeater of claim 9, wherein the microcontroller is configured to establish communication sessions between the modem and the network device periodically.

11. The repeater of claim 9, wherein the microcontroller is configured to establish communication sessions between the modem and the network device to calibrate or re-calibrate a gain of the repeater.

12. The repeater of claim 1, wherein the microcontroller is further configured to monitor alarm indications of the repeater.

13. A method of controlling a repeater including a repeater phone comprising:

repeating signals between a mobile device and a network device;

communicating between the repeater phone and the network device independent of the repeating signals between a mobile device and a network device; and

controlling one or more parameters of the repeating the signals between the mobile device and the network device based on the communicating between the repeater phone and the network device.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein controlling the one or more parameters of the repeating the signals comprises controlling a reverse link gain of the repeater.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the controlling the reverse link gain of the repeater comprises calibrating the reverse link gain of the repeater.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the calibrating the reverse link gain of the repeater comprises establishing a communication between the repeater phone and the network device and generating at least one power control signal based on information related to signal power determined during a duration of the communication.