Multi-beam antenna arrays for base stations in which the channel follows the mobile unit
First Claim
1. A method of communicating between a base station and a mobile unit located within a cell of a cellular communication system comprising the steps of:
- radiating an array of geographically spaced beam-spots within the cell, each of said beam-spots having a plurality of communication channels and at least one of the communication channels being assigned to the mobile unit;
sensing, at the base station, received signal strength of the mobile unit communicating in the cell; and
radiating the communication channels assigned to the mobile unit to a selected number of beam-spots based on the received signal strength from the mobile unit.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Cells in a radio telephone scheme are covered by beam-spots generated by multi-beam antenna system. Forward communication channels follow mobile units as they move between beam-spots. Additionally, each cell is divided into zones based on the mobile traffic patterns within the cell. Typically, there will be a high density zone covered by many, small area beam-spots, a medium density zone covered by two or three medium sized beam-spots, and a low density zone covered by one large beam-spot. As the mobile traffic patterns change throughout the day, multi-beam antenna dynamically reconfigures the zone and beam-spot layout for each cell, thereby keeping a nearly optimal zone and beam-spot configuration despite varying mobile traffic patterns.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method of communicating between a base station and a mobile unit located within a cell of a cellular communication system comprising the steps of:
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radiating an array of geographically spaced beam-spots within the cell, each of said beam-spots having a plurality of communication channels and at least one of the communication channels being assigned to the mobile unit; sensing, at the base station, received signal strength of the mobile unit communicating in the cell; and radiating the communication channels assigned to the mobile unit to a selected number of beam-spots based on the received signal strength from the mobile unit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method of communicating with a mobile unit in a cell of a radio telephone system, comprising the steps of:
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radiating an array of geographically spaced beam-spots, each of said beam-spots having a plurality of communication channels; selectively activating at least one channel, within each beam-spot, assigned to mobile units using the telephone system, the step of selectively activating including the substep of deactivating the channels assigned to the mobile unit in a first one of the beam-spots which the mobile unit has left and activating the channels in a second one of the beam-spots being entered by the mobile unit; monitoring traffic patterns in the cell; determining, based on the monitoring step, whether the traffic patterns have changed by more than a predetermined amount; controlling a multi-beam antenna array to reform the beam-spots in accordance with a change in traffic patterns if the change has exceeded the predetermined amount. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of communicating with a mobile unit in a cell of a radio telephone system comprising the steps of:
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radiating an array of geographically spaced beam-spots, each of said beam-spots having a plurality of communication channels; selectively activating at least one channel, within each beam-spot, assigned to mobile units using the telephone system, the step of selectively activating including the substep of deactivating channels associated with beam-spots the mobile unit has passed and activating channels the mobile unit is estimated to enter; monitoring traffic patterns in the cell; determining, based on the monitoring step, whether the traffic patterns have changed by more than a predetermined amount; controlling a multi-beam antenna array to reform the beam-spots in accordance with a change in traffic patterns if the change has exceeded the predetermined amount. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A radio-based telephone system comprising:
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an adaptive antenna array for providing reconfigurable beam-spots within a predefined area, each beam-spot containing one or more channels assigned to mobile units using the telephone system; and control means for selectively activating the channels to deactivate the channel assigned to the mobile unit when a mobile unit exits a first beam-spot and to activate the channel assigned to the mobile unit when the mobile unit enters a second of the beam-spots. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
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18. A cell in a radio telephone network comprising:
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base station means for controlling mobile unit telephone traffic in a cell, the base station including; means for dividing the cell into zones arranged according to the number and location of mobile units within the cell, one of the zones being a high capacity zone, and one of the zones being a lower capacity zone; means for covering the zones with beam-spots, the number of beam-spots and the size of each beam-spot within the zones being determined according to traffic patterns of the mobile units within the zones; wherein the means for dividing further includes means for reconfiguring the zones based on a change in the traffic patterns within the cell and the means for covering including means for reconfiguring the beam-spots based on a change in the traffic patterns of the mobile units within the zones. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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21. A method of communicating with mobile units in a cell of a radio telephone system, comprising the steps of:
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dividing the cell into zones arranged according to a number and location of mobile units within the cell, one of the zones being a high capacity zone, and one of the zones being a lower capacity zone; covering the zones with beam-spots, the number of beam-spots and the size of each beam-spot within the zones being determined according to traffic patterns of the mobile units within the zones; reconfiguring the zones based on a change in the traffic patterns of the mobile units within the cell and reconfiguring the beam-spots based on a change in the traffic patterns of the mobile units within the zones. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23)
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Specification