DETERMINING PROPAGATION DELAY OF COMMUNICATIONS IN DISTRIBUTED ANTENNA SYSTEMS, AND RELATED COMPONENTS, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS
First Claim
1. A distributed antenna system apparatus, comprising:
- at least one downlink radio frequency (RF) interface configured to receive downlink RF signals and distribute the downlink RF signals over at least one downlink communications medium to one or more remote antenna units (RAUs);
at least one uplink RF interface configured to receive uplink RF signals over at least one uplink communications medium from the one or more RAUs;
at least one propagation delay measurement circuit communicatively coupled to the at least one downlink RF interface and the at least one uplink RF interface and configured to measure propagation delay between the distribution of the downlink RF signals by the at least one downlink RF interface and the receipt of the downlink RF signals as uplink RF signals by the at least one uplink RF interface; and
a controller communicatively coupled to the at least one propagation delay measurement circuit and configured to;
communicate to an RAU among the one or more RAUs to return received downlink RF signals as uplink RF signals to the at least one uplink RF interface;
activate the at least one downlink RF interface to distribute the received downlink RF signals to the RAU among the one or more RAUs; and
determine the propagation delay as a function of delay between the at least one downlink RF interface and the RAU among the one or more RAUs, and as a function of delay between the RAU among the one or more RAUs and the at least one uplink RF interface from the at least one propagation delay measurement circuit.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Components, systems, and methods for determining propagation delay of communications in distributed antenna systems are disclosed. The propagation delay of communications signals distributed in the distributed antenna systems is determined. If desired, the propagation delay(s) can be determined on a per remote antenna unit basis for the distributed antenna systems. The propagation delay(s) can provided by the distributed antenna systems to a network or other system to be taken into consideration for communications services or operations that are based on communications signal delay. As another non-limiting example, propagation delay can be determined and controlled for each remote antenna unit to be uniquely distinguish the remote antenna units. In this manner, the location of a client device communicating with a remote antenna unit can be determined within the communication range of the remote antenna unit.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A distributed antenna system apparatus, comprising:
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at least one downlink radio frequency (RF) interface configured to receive downlink RF signals and distribute the downlink RF signals over at least one downlink communications medium to one or more remote antenna units (RAUs); at least one uplink RF interface configured to receive uplink RF signals over at least one uplink communications medium from the one or more RAUs; at least one propagation delay measurement circuit communicatively coupled to the at least one downlink RF interface and the at least one uplink RF interface and configured to measure propagation delay between the distribution of the downlink RF signals by the at least one downlink RF interface and the receipt of the downlink RF signals as uplink RF signals by the at least one uplink RF interface; and a controller communicatively coupled to the at least one propagation delay measurement circuit and configured to; communicate to an RAU among the one or more RAUs to return received downlink RF signals as uplink RF signals to the at least one uplink RF interface; activate the at least one downlink RF interface to distribute the received downlink RF signals to the RAU among the one or more RAUs; and determine the propagation delay as a function of delay between the at least one downlink RF interface and the RAU among the one or more RAUs, and as a function of delay between the RAU among the one or more RAUs and the at least one uplink RF interface from the at least one propagation delay measurement circuit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method of determining propagation delay in a distributed antenna system apparatus, comprising:
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communicating to a remote antenna unit (RAU) among one or more RAUs to return received downlink radio frequency (RF) signals from at least one downlink RF interface as uplink RF signals to at least one uplink RF interface; activating the at least one downlink RF interface to distribute the received downlink RF signals to the RAU among the one or more RAUs; distributing the downlink RF signals to the RAU among the one or more RAUs over at least one downlink communications medium; receiving the distributed downlink RF signals as the uplink RF signals from the RAU among the one or more RAUs over at least one uplink communications medium; and determining propagation delay using at least one propagation delay measurement circuit as a function of delay between the at least one downlink RF interface and the RAU among the one or more RAUs, and as a function of delay between the RAU among the one or more RAUs and the at least one uplink RF interface. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification