Method and apparatus for wireless communication employing collector arrays
First Claim
1. A communication system having a plurality of forward channel communications and a plurality of corresponding reverse channel communications comprising,zone manager means including,broadcaster means having a broadcaster transmitter for broadcasting said plurality of forward channel communications using broadband broadcaster signals to form a plurality of broadcaster forward channels in a broadcaster zone,aggregator means for receiving said plurality of corresponding reverse channel communications;
- a plurality of users in said broadcaster zone,each of said users including user receiver means for receiving a different forward channel from said broadcaster means and including user transmitter means for broadcasting user reverse channel communications in a different user reverse channel,said plurality of users providing a plurality of different user reverse channels collectively as a broadband composite signal,a plurality of collector means distributed over said broadcaster zone at spaced-apart locations,each of said collector means including broadband collector receiver means for receiving said broadband composite signal with reverse channel communications from ones of said plurality of users, andeach of said collector means including collector forwarding means for forwarding, to said aggregator means, said user reverse channel communications from said ones of said plurality of users as collector reverse channel communications whereby said collector reverse channel communications are said corresponding reverse channel communications received by said aggregator means.
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Abstract
A cellular communications system that includes forward channel communications to users and corresponding reverse channel communications from mobile users. The users travel from one area to another area over one or more zones. The forward channel communications are broadcast directly to users in a broadcaster zone. The reverse channel communications from users are not returned directly but are first collected at locations arrayed over the broadcaster zone. After collection, the reverse channel communications are forwarded to complete the full duplex communications. The forward channel communications are point to multipoint while the the reverse channel communications are multipoint to point. The communication system separately handles the point to multipoint forward path as a direct broadcast and the multipoint to point reverse path using multiple collection points. Since the forward and reverse paths are separately configured, the present invention optimizes both the forward and reverse paths.
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Citations
111 Claims
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1. A communication system having a plurality of forward channel communications and a plurality of corresponding reverse channel communications comprising,
zone manager means including, broadcaster means having a broadcaster transmitter for broadcasting said plurality of forward channel communications using broadband broadcaster signals to form a plurality of broadcaster forward channels in a broadcaster zone, aggregator means for receiving said plurality of corresponding reverse channel communications; -
a plurality of users in said broadcaster zone, each of said users including user receiver means for receiving a different forward channel from said broadcaster means and including user transmitter means for broadcasting user reverse channel communications in a different user reverse channel, said plurality of users providing a plurality of different user reverse channels collectively as a broadband composite signal, a plurality of collector means distributed over said broadcaster zone at spaced-apart locations, each of said collector means including broadband collector receiver means for receiving said broadband composite signal with reverse channel communications from ones of said plurality of users, and each of said collector means including collector forwarding means for forwarding, to said aggregator means, said user reverse channel communications from said ones of said plurality of users as collector reverse channel communications whereby said collector reverse channel communications are said corresponding reverse channel communications received by said aggregator means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A communication system for communicating between a network and a region with a plurality of network forward channel communications from the network and with a plurality of corresponding network reverse channel communications to the network, said system including,
zone manager means including, broadcaster means for broadcasting said plurality of forward channel communications in a broadcaster zone, said broadcaster means including a broadcaster transmitter for transmitting in a plurality of broadcaster forward channels using broadband broadcaster signals, aggregator means for receiving reverse channel communications and forwarding the received reverse channel communications as aggregator reverse channel communications to the network as said network reverse channel communications, a plurality of users, each of said users including user receiver means for receiving a forward channel from said broadcaster signals and including user transmitter means for broadcasting user reverse channel communications in a user reverse channel whereby reverse channel communications from said plurality of users are in a plurality of user reverse channels collectively forming a broadband composite signal, a plurality of collector means distributed over said broadcaster zone at spaced-apart locations, each collector means including broadband collector receiver means for receiving said broadband composite signal including reverse channel communications from ones of said users, and each collector means including collector forwarding means for forwarding user reverse channel communications as collector reverse channel communications to said aggregator means.
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38. A communication system for communicating between a network and one or more regions with a plurality of network forward channel communications from the network and with a plurality of corresponding network reverse channel communications to the network, said system including,
one or more region manager means, one for each of said regions for controlling communications within a corresponding region, for each particular region, a plurality of zone manager means for managing communications in a plurality of broadcaster zones, respectively, each zone manager means including for a corresponding broadcaster zone, broadcaster means receiving said network forward channel communications from the region manager for the particular region and having a broadcaster transmitter for broadcasting corresponding forward channel communications using broadband broadcaster signals to form a plurality of broadcaster forward channels in said corresponding broadcaster zone, aggregator means for receiving corresponding reverse channel communications for said corresponding broadcaster zone and forwarding the received corresponding reverse channel communications as aggregator reverse channel communications to the region manager for the particular region to form said network reverse channel communications, for each broadcaster zone, a plurality of users, each of said users including user receiver means for receiving a different forward channel from said broadcaster means and including user transmitter means for broadcasting user reverse channel communications in a different user reverse channel, said plurality of users providing a plurality of different user reverse channels collectively as a broadband composite signal, a plurality of collector arrays, one for each of said broadcaster zones, each of said collector arrays including for said corresponding broadcaster zone, a plurality of collector means distributed over said corresponding broadcaster zone at spaced-apart locations, each of said collector means including broadband collector receiver means for receiving said broadband composite signal with reverse channel communications from ones of said plurality of users, and each of said collector means including collector forwarding means for forwarding, to said aggregator means, said user reverse channel communications from said ones of said plurality of users as collector reverse channel communications whereby said collector reverse channel communications are said corresponding reverse channel communications received by said aggregator means.
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100. A communication system for communicating between a network and a region with a plurality of network forward channel communications from the network and with a plurality of corresponding network reverse channel communications to the network, said system including,
region manager means for controlling communications within said region, a plurality of zone manager means for managing communications in a plurality of broadcaster zones, respectively, each zone manager means including for a corresponding broadcaster zone, broadcaster means receiving said network forward channel communications from the region manager and having a broadcaster transmitter for broadcasting corresponding forward channel communications using broadband broadcaster signals to form a plurality of broadcaster forward channels in said corresponding broadcaster zone, aggregator means for receiving corresponding reverse channel communications for said corresponding broadcaster zone and forwarding the received corresponding reverse channel communications as aggregator reverse channel communications to the region manager to form said network reverse channel communications, for each broadcaster zone, a plurality of users, wherein particular ones of said users are mobile and travel from one of said broadcaster zones to another one of said broadcaster zones, each of said users includes user receiver means for receiving a different forward channel from said broadcaster means and including user transmitter means for broadcasting user reverse channel communications in a different user reverse channel, said plurality of users providing a plurality of different user reverse channels collectively as a broadband composite signal, a plurality of collector arrays, one for each of said broadcaster zones, each of said collector arrays including for said corresponding broadcaster zone, a plurality of collector means distributed over said corresponding broadcaster zone at spaced-apart locations, each of said collector means including broadband collector receiver means for receiving said broadband composite signal with reverse channel communications from ones of said plurality of users, and each of said collector means including collector forwarding means for forwarding, to said aggregator means, said user reverse channel communications from said ones of said plurality of users as collector reverse channel communications where said collector reverse channel communications are said corresponding reverse channel communications received by said aggregator means.
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106. A communication system having a plurality of forward channel communications and a plurality of corresponding reverse channel communications comprising,
for zone manager means, broadcasting, with a broadcaster means having a broadcaster transmitter, said plurality of forward channel communications using broadband broadcaster signals to form a plurality of broadcaster forward channels in a broadcaster zone, receiving, with aggregator means, said plurality of corresponding reverse channel communications; -
for a plurality of users in said broadcaster zone, for each of said users, receiving, with user receiver means, a different forward channel from said broadcaster means, and broadcasting, with user transmitter means, user reverse channel communications in a different user reverse channel, said broadcasting for a plurality of users providing a plurality of different user reverse channels collectively as a broadband composite signal, for each of a plurality of collector means distributed over said broadcaster zone at spaced-apart locations, receiving, with broadband collector receiver means, said broadband composite signal with reverse channel communications from ones of said plurality of users, and forwarding to said aggregator means, with collector forwarding means, said user reverse channel communications from said ones of said plurality of users as collector reverse channel communications whereby said collector reverse channel communications are said corresponding reverse channel communications received by said aggregator means. - View Dependent Claims (107, 108, 109, 110, 111)
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Specification