Spectrum sharing communications system for monitoring available spectrum
First Claim
1. A mobile communuications network in which signals are transmitted and received between at least one base station and at least one user terminal over a common block of frequency spectrum that is shared with an incumbent radio system having a plurality of incumbent radio stations, said mobile communications network comprising:
- means for periodically measuring signal levels of signals falling within a plurality of frequency segments of said common block of frequency spectrum, said measuring means comprising;
monitoring antennas, said monitoring antennas collectively having plural polarizations and being arranged to have spatial diversity;
a spectrum analyzer coupled to said monitoring antennas for producing data representative of a signal level contained within at least one frequency band received by each of said antennas;
means for controlling said spectrum analyzer; and
means for processing information, including data produced by said spectrum analyzer, to produce data representative of a frequency of an incumbent receiver and a degree of RF isolation between at least one of said monitoring antennas and said incumbent receiver;
means for identifying which of said plurality of incumbent radio stations are nearby incumbent radio stations based on the signal levels measured by said measuring means;
means for calculating whether interference is likely to occur between said mobile communications network and at least one of the nearby incumbent radio stations identified by said identifying means;
means for periodically creating parameters, representative of the range of frequencies on which said user terminal transmits and receives said signals, based on a likelihood of interference calculated by said calculating means; and
means for periodically assigning frequencies on which said user terminal transmits and receives said signals based on the parameters created by said creating means.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A mobile radio communications network is provided with a system for allocating one or more ranges of transmission frequency to the communications network, in order to prevent the network from interfering with received signals of an incumbent radio system. The allocating system may be provided with a device for receiving and monitoring information indicative of the presence and location of incumbent radio stations. A signal level monitoring system monitors signals transmitted from incumbent radio stations to determine the frequency and degree of RF isolation, with respect to a monitoring antenna of the monitoring system, of the stations. The monitoring system includes monitoring antennas, a spectrum analyzer, a device for controlling the spectrum analyzer, and a device for processing and correcting the data produced by the spectrum analyzer.
145 Citations
12 Claims
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1. A mobile communuications network in which signals are transmitted and received between at least one base station and at least one user terminal over a common block of frequency spectrum that is shared with an incumbent radio system having a plurality of incumbent radio stations, said mobile communications network comprising:
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means for periodically measuring signal levels of signals falling within a plurality of frequency segments of said common block of frequency spectrum, said measuring means comprising; monitoring antennas, said monitoring antennas collectively having plural polarizations and being arranged to have spatial diversity; a spectrum analyzer coupled to said monitoring antennas for producing data representative of a signal level contained within at least one frequency band received by each of said antennas; means for controlling said spectrum analyzer; and means for processing information, including data produced by said spectrum analyzer, to produce data representative of a frequency of an incumbent receiver and a degree of RF isolation between at least one of said monitoring antennas and said incumbent receiver; means for identifying which of said plurality of incumbent radio stations are nearby incumbent radio stations based on the signal levels measured by said measuring means; means for calculating whether interference is likely to occur between said mobile communications network and at least one of the nearby incumbent radio stations identified by said identifying means; means for periodically creating parameters, representative of the range of frequencies on which said user terminal transmits and receives said signals, based on a likelihood of interference calculated by said calculating means; and means for periodically assigning frequencies on which said user terminal transmits and receives said signals based on the parameters created by said creating means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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Specification