Method and apparatus for analyzing base station timing
First Claim
1. An apparatus to determine a timing of a signal and a timing drift of the signal, if any, caused by a base station transmitting the signal, comprising:
- a dummy signal generation mechanism producing a dummy signal output;
an antenna coupled to a wireless link and producing an antenna output;
a summer coupled to said dummy signal output and said antenna output, said summer producing a summed signal output;
a demodulation element coupled to said summed signal output and producing a demodulated dummy signal output and a demodulated signal output; and
a signal timing comparison unit coupled to said demodulated dummy signal output and said demodulated signal output, said comparison unit used to compare signal timing for said demodulated dummy signal output to signal timing for said summed signal output.
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Abstract
A base station timing analyzer measures the timing performance of a base station from within the base station coverage area without interruption or degradation of the system performance. The timing analyzer has a dummy signal generation mechanism that produces a dummy signal output based on a universal time input. An antenna couples a signal from an operating base station from a wireless link. A summer sums together the dummy signal and signal from the wireless link. A demodulation element receives the summed signal and searches for and demodulates each of the signals. A comparison unit compares the output of the demodulation element to determine the timing performance of the base station to provide an indication of the absolute time offset of the base station signal.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. An apparatus to determine a timing of a signal and a timing drift of the signal, if any, caused by a base station transmitting the signal, comprising:
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a dummy signal generation mechanism producing a dummy signal output;
an antenna coupled to a wireless link and producing an antenna output;
a summer coupled to said dummy signal output and said antenna output, said summer producing a summed signal output;
a demodulation element coupled to said summed signal output and producing a demodulated dummy signal output and a demodulated signal output; and
a signal timing comparison unit coupled to said demodulated dummy signal output and said demodulated signal output, said comparison unit used to compare signal timing for said demodulated dummy signal output to signal timing for said summed signal output. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 29)
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11. An apparatus to determine a timing of a signal and a timing drift of the signal, if any, caused by a base station transmitting the signal, comprising:
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means for receiving a signal generated by an operating base station;
means for receiving a reference signal;
means for identifying a signal time offset of said signal generated by said operating base station;
means for identifying a reference time offset of said reference signal; and
means for determining a timing characteristic of said operating base station based on said signal time offset and said reference time offset. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. An apparatus to determine a timing of a signal and a timing drift of the signal, if any, caused by a base station transmitting the signal, comprising:
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an absolute time generation mechanism configured to provide an absolute time reference;
an antenna configured to receive a base station signal from a wireless link;
a demodulation element coupled to said antenna and configured to demodulate said base station signal to extract an indication of base station signal timing therefrom; and
a comparator configured to compare said indication of base station signal timing and said absolute time reference to detect an offset error, if any, therebetween.
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22. A method to determine a timing of a signal and a timing drift of the signal, if any, caused by a base station transmitting the signal, comprising the steps of:
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receiving a signal generated by an operating base station;
receiving a reference signal;
identifying a signal time offset of said signal generated by said operating base station;
identifying a reference time offset of said reference signal;
comparing said signal time offset to said reference time offset, and determining a timing characteristic of said operating base station based on said comparison. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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Specification