Method for combining communication beams in a wireless communication system

• US 6,987,958 B1
• Filed: 01/16/2002
• Issued: 01/17/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cingular Wireless Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lo, Titus, Stolarz, Douglas Frank, Rosenauer, Dennis
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Simon
• Application Number:
  US10/046,243
• Time in Patent Office: 1,462 Days
• Field of Search: 455/562.1, 455/101, 455/133, 455/277.2, 455/67.11, 455/134, 455/277.1, 455/161.3, 455/115.3, 455/575.7, 455/103
• US Class Current: 455/269
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/26 varying the relative phase or relative amplitude of energisation between two or more active radiating elements; varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture H01Q3/12, H01Q3/22, H01Q3/24 take precedence

Abstract

A method provides a technique for optimally combining communication beams. The method forms a plurality of beams from captured signals. One beam is selected as the primary beam while a subset of the others are applied to auxiliary receivers. A digital signal processor weights and combines these primary and secondary beams.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

capturing wireless signals on a plurality of antennas;

forming a plurality of beams from outputs of the antennas;

selecting a subset of the beams for processing by a plurality of receivers, wherein the subset includes the strongest beam;

processing the strongest beam by a primary transceiver of the plurality of receivers;

outputting, from the receivers, processed signals corresponding to the beams; and

extracting a message from the processed signals.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the extracting comprises:

assigning weights to the processed signals;

combining the weighted signals; and

generating therefrom an output signal.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising demodulating the output signal to obtain the message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the other beams of the subset are processed by auxiliary receivers of the plurality of receivers.

5. A method comprising:

receiving wireless signals on a plurality of antennas;

forming a plurality of beams from outputs of the antennas;

applying exclusion logic to select a strongest beam and auxiliary beams;

providing the strongest beam to a primary transceiver and the auxiliary beams to auxiliary receivers;

processing the strongest beam in the primary transceiver and the auxiliary beams in the auxiliary receivers; and

extracting information encoded in the processed beams.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the extracting comprises providing the processed beams to a digital signal processor, weighting and combining the processed beams using the digital signal processor, and demodulating an output signal of the digital signal processor.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the digital signal processor is coupled to the exclusion logic and provides signals thereto to control the selecting.

8. A system comprising:

an N-element antenna array;

a beam former coupled to the array;

exclusion logic coupled to the beam former to select a subset of outputs of the beam former, wherein the subset includes the strongest beam;

a plurality of receivers coupled to the exclusion logic to process the selected subset, wherein the plurality of receivers includes a Primary transceiver to process the strongest beam; and

processing logic coupled to the plurality of receivers to extract information from the subset processed by the receivers.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the plurality of receivers includes auxiliary receivers to process other beams of the subset.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the processing logic comprises a digital signal processor to assign weights to signals corresponding to the processed subset, and combine the weighted signals.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the processing logic further comprises a demodulator to extract a message from an output signal of the digital signal processor.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the processing logic is coupled to the exclusion logic and controls the selection of the subset.