APPARATUSES, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING LOCATION OF A MOBILE DEVICE(S) IN A DISTRIBUTED ANTENNA SYSTEM(S)

• US 20140213285A1
• Filed: 09/24/2013
• Published: 07/31/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Corning Optical Communications LLC (Corning Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Corning Cable Systems LLC (Corning Incorporated)
• Inventors: Sauer, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,185,674 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/25752 Optical arrangements for wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0413 MIMO systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/20 for indoor coverage or short range network deployment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0015 one node acting as a reference for the others
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/085 Access point devices with remote components

Abstract

Distributed antenna systems provide location information for client devices communicating with remote antenna units. The location information can be used to determine the location of the client devices relative to the remote antenna unit(s) with which the client devices are communicating. A location processing unit (LPU) includes a control system configured to receive uplink radio frequency (RF) signals communicated by client devices and determines the signal strengths of the uplink RF signals. The control system also determines which antenna unit is receiving uplink RF signals from the device having the greatest signal strength.

Claims

1. A distributed antenna system, comprising:

a plurality of antennas in known locations and configured to transmit RF signals into a respective coverage area and to receive RF signals from client devices located in respective coverage areas;

a head-end unit configured to distribute downlink signals and combine uplink signals, wherein the downlink signals and the uplink signals are modulated according to the long term evolution (LTE) standard, the head-end unit including;

a unit of a combiner and a splitter configured to split downlink signals sent by a base station and combine uplink signals transmitted from the plurality of antennas; and

a plurality of RF-to-FO converters configured to convert radio frequency (RF) signals to optical signals; and

a location processing unit (LPU) at the head-end unit and configured to be communicatively linked to a base station, the LPU including;

a plurality of signal monitoring devices configured to receive each of the uplink signals transmitted from the antennas located in the known locations and acquire time slots of the downlink signals sent by the base station and split by the head-end unit; and

a location server configured to identify a transmitting client device by monitoring usage of a frequency band and deliver location information to the base station.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the antennas are deployed at multiple floors of a building infrastructure, communicatively coupled to the head-end unit by optical fiber communication links, and configured to use a multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) scheme.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the antennas are arranged with at least two receiving antennas per antenna location to receive RF signals sent by client devices.

4. A distributed antenna system, comprising:

a plurality of antennas configured to use a multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) scheme located in known locations and configured to transmit RF signals into a respective coverage area and to receive RF signals from client devices located in respective coverage areas, wherein the antennas are deployed at multiple floors of a building infrastructure;

a head-end unit configured to distribute downlink signals and combine uplink signals, the head-end unit including;

a unit of a combiner and a splitter configured to split downlink signals sent by a base station and combine uplink signals transmitted from the plurality of antennas; and

a plurality of converters configured to convert radio frequency (RF) signals to optical signals; and

a location processing unit (LPU) at the head-end unit and configured to be communicatively linked to a base station, the LPU including;

a plurality of signal monitoring devices configured to receive the uplink signals transmitted from the antennas located in the known locations and acquire time slots of the downlink signals sent by the base station and split by the head-end unit; and

a location server configured to identify a transmitting client device by monitoring usage of a frequency band and deliver location information to the base station.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the base station has complete knowledge of time slot/frequency allocations of client devices in uplink.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the downlink signals and the uplink signals are modulated according to the long term evolution (LTE) standard and the antennas are communicatively coupled to the head-end unit by a plurality of optical fiber communication links.

7. A distributed antenna system, comprising:

a plurality of antennas coupled to the head-end unit by optical fiber communication links and configured to transmit RF signals into a respective coverage area and to receive RF signals from client devices located in respective coverage areas;

a head-end unit configured to distribute downlink signals and combine uplink signals and communicatively, wherein the downlink signals and the uplink signals are modulated according to the long term evolution (LTE) standard, the head-end unit including;

a unit configured to split downlink signals sent by a base station and combine uplink signals transmitted from the plurality of antennas; and

a plurality of converters configured to convert radio frequency (RF) signals to optical signals; and

a location processing unit (LPU), the LPU including;

a control system configured to;

receive uplink radio frequency (RF) signals communicated by the client devices wirelessly communicating to antennas;

determine signal strengths of the uplink RF signals;

determine which antenna among the plurality of antennas is receiving uplink RF signals from the device having the greatest signal strength; and

determine location information based on identification of the antenna receiving the uplink RF signals from the client device having the greatest signal strength.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the antennas are deployed at multiple floors of a building infrastructure and the antennas are configured to use a multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) scheme.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the antennas are arranged with at least two receiving antennas per antenna location to receive RF signals sent by client devices.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the received uplink RF signals are received in channels separated into frequency blocks and the control system is configured to determine the signal strength of the uplink RF signals by measuring the signal strength of the frequency blocks in the uplink RF signals.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the received uplink RF signals are received in channels separated into temporal blocks, the control system being configured to determine the signal strength of the uplink RF signals by measuring the signal strength of the temporal blocks in the uplink RF signals, and to convert the received uplink RF signals into baseband uplink RF signals.

12. A distributed antenna system, comprising:

a plurality of antennas communicatively coupled to the head-end unit by optical fiber communication links and configured to use a multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) scheme, the antennas being located in known locations and configured to transmit RF signals into a respective coverage area and to receive RF signals from client devices located in respective coverage areas, wherein the antennas are deployed at multiple floors of a building infrastructure;

a head-end unit configured to distribute downlink signals and combine uplink signals, the head-end unit including;

a unit configured to split downlink signals sent by a base station and combine uplink signals transmitted from the plurality of antennas; and

a plurality of converters configured to convert radio frequency (RF) signals to optical signals; and

a location processing unit (LPU), the LPU including;

a control system configured to;

receive uplink radio frequency (RF) signals communicated by client devices wirelessly communicating to the antennas;

determine signal strengths of the uplink RF signals;

determine which antenna among the plurality of antennas is receiving uplink RF signals from the client device having the greatest signal strength; and

determine location information for the at least one client device based on identification of the antenna receiving the uplink RF signals from the client device having the greatest signal strength.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the received uplink RF signals are received in channels separated into temporal blocks, the control system being configured to determine the signal strength of the uplink RF signals by measuring the signal strength of the temporal blocks in the uplink RF signals, and to convert the received uplink RF signals into baseband uplink RF signals.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the received uplink RF signals are received in channels separated into frequency blocks, the control system being configured to determine the signal strength of the uplink RF signals by measuring the signal strength of the frequency blocks in the uplink RF signals.