POWER MANAGEMENT FOR REMOTE ANTENNA UNITS IN DISTRIBUTED ANTENNA SYSTEMS

• US 20140308044A1
• Filed: 04/10/2013
• Published: 10/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Corning Optical Communications LLC (Corning Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: CCS Technology Inc. (Corning Incorporated)
• Inventors: Heidler, Christian, Hull, Jonathan Richard, Kedziora, John, Sauer, Michael, Schweiker, Wolfgang Gottfried Tobias
• Granted Patent: US 9,252,874 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 398/115
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/11 Arrangements specific to free-space transmission, i.e. transmission through air or vacuum
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/25753 Distribution optical network, e.g. between a base station and a plurality of remote units
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/808 Electrical power feeding of an optical transmission system
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/04 using two or more spaced independent antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0206 in access points, e.g. base stations access point devices per se H04W88/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0261 managing power supply demand, e.g. depending on battery level
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/085 Access point devices with remote components
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Power management for a remote antenna unit(s) (RAUs) in a distributed antenna system. Power can be managed for an RAU configured to power modules and devices that may require more power to operate than power available to the RAU. For example, the RAU may be configured to include power-consuming RAU modules to provide distributed antenna system-related services. As another example, the RAU may be configured to provide power through powered ports in the RAU to external power-consuming devices. Depending on the configuration of the RAU, the power-consuming RAU modules and/or external power-consuming devices may demand more power than is available at the RAU. In this instance, the power available at the RAU can be distributed to the power-consuming modules and devices based on the priority of services desired to be provided by the RAU.

Claims

1. A power management device for remotely managing power consumed at a remote antenna unit (RAU) in a distributed antenna system, comprising:

a remote controller communicatively coupled to at least one remote antenna unit (RAU) provided in the distributed antenna system, the RAU configured to provide power to at least one external power-consuming device connected to at least one powered port;

wherein the remote controller is configured to;

communicate with the at least one RAU to determine an available power budget for the at least one powered port; and

communicate the available power budget for the at least one powered port in the at least one RAU to the at least one RAU.

2. The power management device of claim 1, wherein the remote controller is co-located in a head-end unit (HEU) configured to distribute downlink radio frequency (RF) communications signals to the at least one RAU.

3. The power management claim 2, wherein the remote controller is configured to receive a type of at least one power-consuming RAU module present in the at least one RAU from the at least one RAU.

4. The power management device of claim 3, wherein the remote controller is configured to determine the available power budget for the at least one powered port based on power required for the at least one power-consuming RAU module present in the at least one RAU.

5. The power management device of claim 4, wherein the remote controller is configured to determine the available power budget for the at least one RAU by subtracting the power required for the at least one power-consuming RAU module present in the at least one RAU from a total power available to the at least one RAU.

6. The power management device of claim 4, wherein the remote controller is further configured to look up in memory coupled to the remote controller, the power required for the at least one power-consuming RAU module present in the at least one RAU.

7. The power management device of claim 4, wherein the remote controller is configured to determine the power required for the at least one power-consuming RAU module present in the at least one RAU based on a type of the at least one power-consuming RAU module present for the at least one power-consuming RAU module present in the at least one RAU.

8. The power management device of claim 1, wherein the remote controller is further configured to receive a power status of the at least one powered port from the at least one RAU.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a power status of the at least one powered port from the at least one RAU.

9. A method of remotely managing power consumed at a remote antenna unit (RAU) in a distributed antenna system, comprising:

communicating with at least one RAU configured to provide power to at least one external power-consuming device connected to at least one powered port to determine an available power budget for the at least one powered port; and

communicating the available power budget for the at least one powered port in the at least one RAU to the at least one RAU.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving a type of at least one power-consuming RAU module present in the at least one RAU from the at least one RAU.

11. The method of claim 10, comprising determining the available power budget for the at least one powered port in the at least one RAU based on power required for the at least one power-consuming RAU module present in the at least one RAU.

12. The method of claim 11, comprising determining the available power budget for the at least one RAU by subtracting the power required for the at least one power-consuming RAU module present in the at least one RAU from a total power available to the at least one RAU.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising looking up in memory coupled to a remote controller, the power required for the at least one power-consuming RAU module present in the at least one RAU.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining the power required for the at least one power-consuming RAU module present in the at one least RAU based on a type of the at least one power-consuming RAU module present for the at least one power-consuming RAU module present in the at least one RAU.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining the power required for the at least one power-consuming RAU module present in the at least one RAU based on a version of the at least one power-consuming RAU module.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the version is comprised from the group consisting of a hardware version and a software version.

18. A remote antenna unit (RAU) for a distributed antenna system, comprising:

at least one power-consuming RAU module;

at least one powered port configured to provide power to at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port; and

an RAU controller configured to;

receive an available power budget for the at least one powered port from a remote controller in the distributed antenna system; and

enable power for the at least one powered port if the available power budget is sufficient to power the at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port.

19. The RAU of claim 18, wherein the at least one power-consuming RAU module is comprised of at least one of a radio frequency (RF) communications module configured to provide RF communications services and a digital data services (DDS) module configured to provide DDS.

20. The RAU of claim 19, wherein the RAU controller is the DDS module.

21. The RAU of claim 18, wherein the at least one power-consuming RAU module is comprised of at least one optical-to-electrical (O/E) converter configured to convert a downlink optical RF signal to a downlink electrical RF signal.

22. The RAU of claim 18, wherein the at least one power-consuming RAU module is comprised of at least one electrical-to-optical (E/O) converter configured to convert an uplink electrical RF signal to an uplink optical RF signal.

23. The RAU of claim 18, wherein the at least one power-consuming RAU module further comprises at least one remote expansion unit (RXU) module configured to provide RF communications services.

24. The RAU of claim 23, wherein the at least one RXU module is configured to receive downlink RF communications signals.

25. The RAU of claim 23, wherein the at least one RXU module is configured to receive uplink RF communications signals.

26. The RAU of claim 18, wherein the at least one powered port is comprised of at least one Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) port.

27. The RAU of claim 18, wherein the RAU controller is further configured to disable the at least one powered port if the available power budget is not sufficient to power the at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port.

28. The RAU of claim 18, wherein the at least one powered port is comprised of a plurality of powered ports,

wherein the RAU controller is further configured disable at least one first port among the plurality of powered ports if the available power budget is only sufficient to power the at least one external power-consuming device connected to at least one second port among the plurality of powered ports.

29. The RAU of claim 18, wherein the RAU controller is further configured to determine if a status of the at least one powered port has changed, and wherein the RAU controller is further configured to determine a device class of the at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port.

30. The RAU of claim 29, wherein the RAU controller is configured to enable power for the at least one powered port if the available power budget is sufficient to power the at least one external power-consuming device of the device class, and wherein the RAU controller is further configured to disable the at least one powered port if the available power budget is not sufficient to power the at least one external power-consuming device of the device class.