Base station and wireless communication system

• US 7,272,418 B2
• Filed: 05/19/2004
• Issued: 09/18/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Yano, Takashi, Tsunehara, Katsuhiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Anderson; Matthew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sharma; Sujatha
• Application Number:
  US10/848,367
• Publication Number:
  US 20050014525A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,217 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1, 455/462, 455/421, 455/561, 455/562.1, 455/88, 455/100, 455/404.2, 455/446, 455/41.2, 455/41.3, 455/435.2, 342/465, 342/451
• US Class Current: 455/562.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

The present invention reduces the number of base stations required to carry out terminal position detection. A base station which serves for terminal position detection using radio signals comprises an antenna to transmit and receive a radio signal; a radio signal receiver which generates a received signal from the radio signal received; a signal processing unit which processes the received signal and generates a transmit signal; a radio signal transmitter which generates a radio signal from the transmit signal; a control unit which exerts control of the base station operation; and a signal processing unit for position detection which performs signal processing for terminal position detection. A signal receivable range with which a signal can be received by the radio signal receiver is made longer than a signal transmission range with which a signal is transmitted by the radio signal transmitter.

Claims

1. A base station which serves for terminal position detection using radio signals, comprising:

an antenna to transmit and receive a radio signal;

a radio signal receiver which generates a received signal from said radio signal received;

a signal processing unit which processes said received signal and generates a transmit signal;

a radio signal transmitter which generates a radio signal from said transmit signal;

a control unit which exerts control of the base station operation; and

a signal processing unit for position detection which performs signal processing for terminal position detection,

wherein a signal receivable range with which a signal can be received by said radio signal receiver is made longer than a signal transmission range with which a signal is transmitted by said radio signal transmitter.

2. The base station according to claim 1, wherein the receiving gain of said antenna is higher than the transmitting gain thereof so as to make said signal receivable range longer than said signal transmission range.

3. The base station according to claim 1, further comprising a transmission power control unit which reduces radio signal transmitting power and an isolator to separate radio signals to transmit and received radio signals so as to make said signal receivable range longer than said signal transmission range.

4. The base station according to claim 3, wherein said transmission power control unit comprises an attenuator which attenuates a radio signal to be transmitted.

5. The base station according to claim 1, further comprising a communication data rate control unit which controls the communication data rate of radio signals to be received,

wherein said communication data rate control unit sets a radio signal to be transmitted from a terminal at a low communication data rate, if the radio signal is used for terminal position detection, so as to make said signal receivable range longer than said signal transmission range.

6. The base station according to claim 5, wherein said communication data rate control unit reduces the communication data rate of a signal that is used for said terminal position detection to a lowest rate that the base station supports, so as to make said signal receivable range longer than said signal transmission range.

7. A wireless communication system where base stations receive a radio signal that is transmitted by a terminal in a process for detecting the position of said terminal,

at least one of said base stations comprising an antenna to transmit and receive a radio signal;

a radio signal receiver which generates a received signal from said radio signal received;

a signal processing unit which processes said received signal and generates a transmit signal;

a radio signal transmitter which generates a radio signal from said transmit signal;

a control unit which exerts control of the base station operation; and

a signal processing unit for position detection which performs signal processing for terminal position detection, wherein a signal receivable range with which a signal can be received by said radio signal receiver is made longer than a signal transmission range with which a signal is transmitted by said radio signal transmitter.

8. The wireless communication system according to claim 7, wherein the receiving gain of said antenna is higher than the transmitting gain thereof so as to make said signal receivable range longer than said signal transmission range.

9. The wireless communication system according to claim 8, comprising a server which exerts control over terminal position detection,

wherein, under the direction of said server, each of said base stations controls said antenna to make its receiving gain higher than its transmitting gain.

10. The wireless communication system according to claim 7,

wherein at least either each of said base stations or said terminal comprises a communication data rate control unit which controls the communication data rate of radio signals that each of said base stations receives,

wherein said communication data rate control unit sets a radio signal to be transmitted from the terminal at a low communication data rate, if the radio signal is used for terminal position detection, so as to make said signal receivable range longer than said signal transmission range.

11. The wireless communication system according to claim 10, wherein said communication data rate control unit reduces the communication data rate of a signal that is used for said terminal position detection to a lowest rate that the base station supports, so as to make said signal receivable range longer than said signal transmission range.

12. The wireless communication system according to claim 10, comprising a server which exerts control over terminal position detection,

wherein, under the direction of said server, said communication data rate control unit reduces the communication data rate of an uplink signal that is used for terminal position detection to a lowest rate that the base station supports.