Cellular network having a concentrated base transceiver station and a plurality of remote transceivers

• US 6,535,732 B1
• Filed: 04/20/1999
• Issued: 03/18/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: CommScope Technologies, LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Interwave Communications International SA (Alvarion Limited)
• Inventors: Ogaz, Ronald S., McIntosh, Chris P., Lu, Priscilla M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kincaid, Lester G.
• Application Number:
  US09/295,058
• Time in Patent Office: 1,428 Days
• Field of Search: 455/423, 455/424, 455/453, 455/524, 455/525, 455/560, 455/561, 455/562, 455/422, 455/446
• US Class Current: 455/445
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/14 WLL [Wireless Local Loop]; RLL [Radio Local Loop]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/085 Access point devices with remote components

Abstract

A cellular network for providing wireless communication with a plurality of mobile stations includes a mobile switching center having a public interface configured to communicate with a public switched telephone network and at least one private interface configured to communicate with a private network, the mobile switching center configured to route calls from the public network to the private network and from the private network to the public network. A base station controller is coupled to the mobile switching center private interface and configured to communicate with the mobile switching center. A concentrated base transceiver station is coupled to the base station controller and configured to communicate with the base station controller. A plurality of remote transceivers are coupled to the concentrated base transceiver station and configured to communicate with the concentrated base transceiver station and configured to communicate with mobile stations.

Claims

1. A cellular network for providing wireless communication with a plurality of mobile stations, comprising:

a mobile switching center having a public interface configured to communicate with a public switched telephone network and at least one private interface configured to communicate with a private network, said mobile switching center configured to route calls from said public network to said private network and from said private network to said public network;

a base station controller coupled to said mobile switching center private interface and configured to communicate with said mobile switching center;

a concentrated base transceiver station coupled to said base station controller and configured to communicate with said base station controller; and

a plurality of remote transceivers separated from and coupled to said concentrated base transceiver station, each of said plurality of remote transceivers configured to communicate with said concentrated base transceiver station and with said mobile stations; and

wherein, said concentrated base transceiver station comprises;

a plurality of central transceivers through which the concentrated base transceiver station communicates with said plurality of remote transceivers; and

a routing circuit through which each of said plurality of central transceiver is coupled to a unique subset of said plurality of remote transceivers to facilitate dynamic allocation of radio resources based of the concentrated base transceiver station.

2. The cellular network of claim 1, wherein:

said mobile switching center is further configured to route calls within said private network without communicating with said public network.

3. The cellular network of claim 1, further comprising:

an operations and maintenance center coupled to said mobile switching center and configured to control said mobile switching center and to monitor said network; and

a user interface coupled to said operations and maintenance center and configured to display information regarding a status of said cellular network.

4. The cellular network of claim 1, wherein one of said mobile stations is communicating with a first remote transceiver at a first frequency, and wherein:

said concentrated base transceiver station is configured to instruct said first remote transceiver to instruct said mobile station to switch to a second frequency; and

said concentrated base transceiver station is configured to instruct a second remote transceiver to hop to said second frequency to communicate with said mobile station.

5. The cellular network of claim 1, wherein one of said mobile stations is communicating with a first remote transceiver at a first frequency, and wherein:

said concentrated base transceiver station is configured to instruct said first remote transceiver to instruct said mobile station to switch to a second frequency; and

said concentrated base transceiver station is configured to instruct a second remote transceiver to hop to said second frequency to communicate with said mobile station.

6. The cellular network of claim 1, wherein:

a first remote transceiver receives inbound information from a mobile station;

a second remote transceiver receives inbound information from said mobile station; and

a first concentrated base transceiver station coupled to said first remote transceiver;

a second concentrated base transceiver station is coupled to said second remote transceiver;

said base station controller is coupled to said first concentrated base transceiver station and said second concentrated base transceiver station and is configured to determine which of said first remote transceiver and said second remote transceiver is used to communicate said inbound information from said mobile station to said mobile switching center.

7. The cellular network of claim 6, wherein:

said base station controller is configured to determine which of said first remote transceiver and said second remote transceiver is used to communicate said inbound information from said mobile station to said mobile switching center based on a signal strength of said inbound information.

8. The cellular network of claim 6, wherein:

said base station controller is configured to determine which of said first remote transceiver and said second remote transceiver is used to communicate said inbound information from said mobile station to said mobile switching center based on a signal strength of said inbound information, wherein preference is given to the remote transceiver that has previously been receiving inbound information from said mobile station, but is handed off to the other remote transceivers when the signal strength drops below a predetermined threshold.

9. The cellular network of claim 6, wherein:

said base station controller is configured to determine which of said first remote transceiver and said second remote transceiver is used to communicate said inbound information from said mobile station to said mobile switching center based on a load factor of said network.

10. The cellular network of claim 1, wherein:

a plurality of said remote transceivers outbound information.

11. The cellular network of claim 1, wherein:

a plurality of said remote transceivers coupled to a plurality of said concentrated base transceiver stations are configured to simultaneously transmit the same outbound information.

12. The cellular network of claim 1, wherein:

a first of said remote transceiver is configured to communicate with said mobile stations in a first frequency band; and

a second of said remote transceiver is configured to communicate with said mobile stations in a second frequency band different from said first frequency band.

13. The cellular network of claim 1, wherein:

said mobile switching center is configured to store a parameter/usage table and to allocate communication frequencies based on said parameter/usage table.

14. The cellular network of claim 13, wherein:

said mobile switching center is configured to update said parameter/usage table based on interference between a first mobile station communicating with a first remote transceiver and a second mobile station communicating with a second remote transceiver.

15. The cellular network of claim 13, wherein:

said mobile switching center is configured to update said parameter/usage table based on usage of said plurality of remote transceivers.

16. The cellular network of claim 1, wherein:

said network is configured to tolerate failures by transferring inbound and outbound information from a failed component to an operational component including;

(a) transferring a mobile station from a failed remote transceiver to an operational remote transceiver;

(b) transferring a mobile station from a failed concentrated base transceiver station/ remote transceiver to an operational concentrated base transceiver station/ remote transceiver; and

(c) transferring inbound and outbound information from a failed base station controller to an operational base station controller .

17. The cellular network of claim 1, wherein:

said network is configured to tolerate failures by transferring inbound and outbound information from a failed component to an operational component including;

transferring inbound and outbound information from a failed mobile switching center to an operational mobile switching center.

18. The cellular network of claim 1, wherein:

said network is configured to allocate radio resources based at least in part on a statistical allocation.

19. The cellular network of claim 18, wherein:

said network is configured to allocate radio resources based at least in part on an average geographic allocation, and configured to instruct mobile stations to communicate with remote transceivers in order to load each remote transceiver to an average geographic value.

20. The cellular network of claim 1, wherein the radio resources of said concentrated base transceiver station include said plurality of central transceivers, and wherein said routing circuit is configured to facilitate dynamic assignment of said plurality of central transceivers to said plurality of remote transceivers.

21. A cellular network for providing wireless communication with a plurality of mobile stations, comprising:

a mobile switching center having a public interface configured to communicate with a public switched telephone network and at least one private interface configured to communicate with a private network, said mobile switching center configured to route calls from said public network to said private network and from said private network to said public network;

a base station controller coupled to said mobile switching center private interface and configured to communicate with said mobile switching center;

a concentrated base transceiver station coupled to said base station controller and configured to communicate with said base station controller; and

a plurality of remote transceivers separated from and coupled to said concentrated base transceiver station, each of said plurality of remote transceivers configured to communicate with said concentrated base transceiver station and with said mobile stations; and

wherein, said concentrated base transceiver station comprises;

a plurality of central transceivers through which said concentrated base transceiver station communicates with said plurality of remote transceivers;

a routing circuit through which each of said plurality of central transceiver is coupled to a unique subset of said plurality of remote transceivers to facilitate dynamic assignment of said plurality of central transceivers to said plurality of remote transceivers; and

a plurality of RF quality selection circuits, each of said plurality of RF quality selection circuits associated with one of the plurality of central transceivers, and configured to select from the subset of said plurality of remote transceivers a remote transceiver based on a received signal quality.

22. The cellular network of claim 21, wherein each of the plurality of remote transceivers further include a microcontroller configured to oversee communication between the remote transceiver and its associated central transceiver.

23. The cellular network of claim 21, wherein each of the plurality of remote transceivers is coupled to its associated central transceiver in a daisy-chain arrangement.

24. The cellular network of claim 21, wherein each of the plurality of remote transceivers is coupled to its associated central transceiver in parallel.