Wireless communication and beam forming with passive beamformers
First Claim
1. An access station for wireless communications, the access station comprising:
- a Butler matrix having a plurality of antenna ports and a plurality of transmit and/or receive (TRX) ports, a first TRX port of the plurality of TRX ports corresponding to a first communication beam and a second TRX port of the plurality of TRX ports corresponding to a second communication beam wherein at least one antenna port of the plurality of antenna ports is not populated with an antenna and at least four TRX ports of the plurality of TRX ports are not populated with signal processors;
a signal processor; and
a signal selection device that is capable of coupling the signal processor to the first TRX port of the plurality of TRX ports or to the second TRX port of the plurality of TRX ports responsive to at least one signal quality determination made on a first wireless communication associated with the first communication beam and a second wireless communication associated with the second communication beam.
9 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Wireless communication and beamforming is improved by depopulating one or more ports of a passive beamformer such as a Butler matrix and/or by increasing the order thereof. In an exemplary implementation, an access station includes: a Butler matrix having “M” antenna ports and “N” transmit and/or receive (TRX) ports; wherein at least a portion of the “M” antenna ports and/or at least a portion of the “N” TRX ports are depopulated. In another exemplary implementation, an access station includes: a Butler matrix that has multiple antenna ports and multiple TRX ports; a signal processor; and a signal selection device that is capable of coupling the signal processor to a subset of the multiple TRX ports responsive to a signal quality determination, the signal selection device adapted to switch the signal processor from a first TRX port to a second TRX port of the subset of TRX ports.
54 Citations
39 Claims
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1. An access station for wireless communications, the access station comprising:
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a Butler matrix having a plurality of antenna ports and a plurality of transmit and/or receive (TRX) ports, a first TRX port of the plurality of TRX ports corresponding to a first communication beam and a second TRX port of the plurality of TRX ports corresponding to a second communication beam wherein at least one antenna port of the plurality of antenna ports is not populated with an antenna and at least four TRX ports of the plurality of TRX ports are not populated with signal processors; a signal processor; and a signal selection device that is capable of coupling the signal processor to the first TRX port of the plurality of TRX ports or to the second TRX port of the plurality of TRX ports responsive to at least one signal quality determination made on a first wireless communication associated with the first communication beam and a second wireless communication associated with the second communication beam. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A Butler matrix for beamforming at an access station in a wireless communications environment, the Butler matrix comprising:
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a plurality of antenna ports; and a plurality of transmit and/or receive (TRX) ports; wherein a plurality of ports are in a depopulated state during operation, and the plurality of ports that are in a depopulated state during operation comprises at least half of the plurality of antenna ports and at least half of the plurality of TRX ports.
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7. An access station for wireless communications, the access station comprising:
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a Butler matrix having “
M”
antenna ports and “
N”
transmit and/or receive (TRX) ports; andat least one antenna that is coupled to at least one antenna port of the “
M”
antenna ports;wherein at least “
M/2”
of the “
M”
antenna ports and at least “
N/2”
of the “
N”
TRX ports are depopulated. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An access station for wireless communications, the access station comprising:
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a Butler matrix having “
M”
antenna ports and “
N”
transmit and/or receive (TRX) ports;wherein at least “
M/2”
of the “
M”
antenna ports are depopulated;wherein “
M”
is equal to “
N”
; andwherein “
M” and
“
N”
are a multiple of two.
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14. An access station for wireless communications, the access station comprising:
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a Butler matrix having “
M”
antenna ports and “
N”
transmit and/or receive (TRX) ports;wherein a plurality of the “
N”
TRX ports and a plurality of the “
M”
antenna ports are depopulated; and
wherein the plurality of the “
N”
TRX ports that are depopulated is equal to at least “
N/2”
, and the plurality of the “
M”
antenna ports that are depopulated is equal to at least “
M/2”
.
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15. An access station for wireless communications, the access station comprising:
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a Butler matrix having “
M”
antenna ports and “
N”
transmit and/or receive (TRX) ports;wherein (i) a plurality of the “
M”
antenna ports and (ii) a plurality of the “
N”
TRX ports are depopulated; anda plurality of signal processors; wherein the plurality of signal processors are coupled to every other TRX port of at least a subset of the “
N”
TRX ports.
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16. An access station for wireless communications, the access station comprising:
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a Butler matrix having a plurality of antenna ports and a plurality of transmit and/or receive (TRX) ports, at least half of both the plurality of antenna ports and the plurality of TRX ports being depopulated at any given moment; a signal processor; and a signal selection device that is capable of coupling the signal processor to multiple TRX ports of the plurality of TRX ports responsive to a signal quality determination, the signal selection device adapted to switch the signal processor from a first TRX port of the multiple TRX ports to a second TRX port of the multiple TRX ports. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An access station for wireless communications, the access station comprising:
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a Butler matrix having a plurality of antenna ports and a plurality of transmit and/or receive (TRX) ports, at least one antenna port of the plurality of antenna ports and at least four TRX ports of the plurality of TRX ports unpopulated; and an antenna array having a plurality of antenna elements that are coupled to a portion of the plurality of antenna ports of the Butler matrix; wherein signals that are applied to the plurality of TRX ports of the Butler matrix are transceived on a plurality of communication beams that are formed jointly by the Butler matrix and the antenna array, and wherein the access station is adapted to have an aiming resolution for communication beams of the plurality of communication beams that is finer than a width of a narrowest communication beam of the plurality of communication beams.
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23. An arrangement for wireless communication and beamforming, the arrangement comprising:
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matrix means for phase adjusting and routing signals between a plurality of antenna ports and a plurality of transmit and/or receive (TRX) ports, at least half of the plurality of antenna ports and at least half of the plurality of TRX ports unpopulated; antenna array means for transceiving as wireless communications signals accepted from up to half of the plurality of antenna ports of the matrix means; processing means for processing signals during transmission and/or reception; and signal selection means for switching the processing means from one TRX port to another TRX port of the plurality of TRX ports of the matrix means. - View Dependent Claims (24)
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25. A method for an access station, the method comprising the actions of:
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comparing a first signal quality from a first communication beam to a second signal quality from a second communication beam; if the first signal quality is greater than the second signal quality, then transceiving from a first transmit and/or receive (TRX) port of a Butler matrix; and if the second signal quality is greater than the first signal quality, then transceiving from a second TRX port of the Butler matrix; wherein the first communication beam and the second communication beam are adjacent communication beams; and
wherein a width of each of the first communication beam and the second communication beam is equal to approximately twice a distance between a peak of the first communication beam and a peak of the second communication beam; andwherein the Butler matrix includes a plurality of TRX ports and a plurality of antenna ports with at least half of both the plurality of antenna ports and the plurality of TRX ports being unpopulated at any given moment. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28)
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29. An access station that is configured to perform actions comprising:
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transceiving signals on a first communication beam via a first transmit and/or receive (TRX) port of a Butler matrix; and transceiving signals on a second communication beam via a second TRX port of the Butler matrix; wherein the first communication beam and the second communication beam are adjacent communication beams, and wherein a distance between a peak of the first communication beam and a peak of the second communication beam is approximately half of a width of the first communication beam; wherein the access station comprises a plurality of signal processors; and wherein the Butler matrix includes at least four TRX ports with the plurality of signal processors coupled at any given moment to every other TRX port of at least a subset of the at least four TRX ports of the Butler matrix. - View Dependent Claims (30)
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31. An access station that is configured to perform actions comprising:
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determining via a first transmit and/or receive (TRX) port of a Butler matrix a first signal quality at a first communication beam that is emanating from an antenna array coupled to the Butler matrix; determining via a second TRX port of the Butler matrix a second signal quality at a second communication beam that is emanating from the antenna array coupled to the Butler matrix, the second communication beam overlapping the first communication beam by at least approximately half a communication beam width; comparing the first signal quality to the second signal quality; determining from the comparing action whether the first signal quality is superior to the second signal quality; and if so, selecting the first TRX port of the Butler matrix for transceiving wireless communications on the first communication beam; wherein the Butler matrix includes a plurality of TRX ports and a plurality of antenna ports with at least half of both the plurality of antenna ports and the plurality of TRX ports being unpopulated at any given moment. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. An access station for wireless communications, the access station comprising:
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a passive beamformer having a plurality of antenna ports and a plurality of transmit and/or receive (TRX) ports, a first TRX port of the plurality of TRX ports corresponding to a first communication beam and a second TRX port of the plurality of TRX ports corresponding to a second communication beam, wherein at least half of the plurality of antenna ports and at least half of the plurality of TRX ports are unpopulated; a signal processor; and a signal selection device that is capable of coupling the signal processor to the first TRX port of the plurality of TRX ports or to the second TRX port of the plurality of TRX ports responsive to at least one signal quality determination made on a first wireless communication associated with the first communication beam and a second wireless communication associated with the second communication beam.
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38. An access station for wireless communications, the access station comprising:
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a passive beamformer having a plurality of antenna ports and a plurality of transmit and/or receive (TRX) ports, at least one antenna port of the plurality of antenna ports and at least four TRX ports of the plurality of TRX ports unpopulated; and an antenna array having a plurality of antenna elements that are coupled to a portion of the plurality of antenna ports of the passive beamformer, the plurality of TRX ports numbering more than the plurality of antenna elements; wherein signals that are applied to the plurality of TRX ports of the passive beamformer are transceived on a plurality of communication beams that are formed jointly by the passive beamformer and the antenna array, and wherein the access station is adapted to have an aiming resolution for communication beams of the plurality of communication beams that is finer than a width of a narrowest communication beam of the plurality of communication beams.
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39. An access station that is configured to perform actions comprising:
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determining via a first transmit and/or receive (TRX) port of a passive beamformer a first signal quality at a first communication beam that is emanating from an antenna array coupled to the passive beamformer; determining via a second TRX port of the passive beamformer a second signal quality at a second communication beam that is emanating from the antenna array coupled to the passive beamformer; comparing the first signal quality to the second signal quality; determining from the comparing action whether the first signal quality is superior to the second signal quality; and if so, selecting the first TRX port of the passive beamformer for transceiving wireless communications on the first communication beam; wherein the passive beamformer includes a plurality of TRX ports and a plurality of antenna ports with at least half of both the plurality of antenna ports and the plurality of TRX ports being unpopulated at any given moment.
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Specification