System and method for effective reception and transmission of satellite signals

• US 7,286,795 B2
• Filed: 07/23/2003
• Issued: 10/23/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: MDS America Incorporated
• Original Assignee: MDS America Incorporated
• Inventors: Ducasse, Jean-Claude
• Primary Examiner(s): Anderson; Matthew
• Assistant Examiner(s): SHARMA, SUJATHA R
• Application Number:
  US10/625,806
• Publication Number:
  US 20050020204A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,553 Days
• Field of Search: 455/3.01, 455/3.02, 455/136, 455/138, 455/232.1, 455/234.1, 455/234.2, 455/12.1
• US Class Current: 455/12.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18513 Transmission in a satellite or space-based system

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and method for terrestrial transmission of RF signals comprising: an antenna, where said antenna includes an active device and a passive device and a decoder. The passive device receives RF signals and passes the signals to the active device. The active device includes at least one amplifier, where active device down converts the RF signals to IF signals and applies a gain to at least one of the RF signals and the IF signals. The decoder connects to the antenna, where decoder receives and analyzes the IF signals from said antenna and upon receipt of the IF signals sends commands to the active device in order to maintain an acceptable IF signal, where said commands instruct the active device to selectively adjust the gain.

Claims

1. A system for terrestrial transmission of RF signals comprising:

an antenna, where said antenna includes an active device and a passive device, where the passive device receives RF signals, where the active device includes a plurality of RF signal amplification stages and a plurality of IF signal amplification stages; and

a decoder connected to the antenna, where decoder receives and analyzes IF signals from said antenna and upon receipt the IF signals sends commands to the active device in order to maintain an acceptable IF signal, where the decoder sends commands that selectively activate or deactivate at least one of the RF signal amplification stages and at least one of the IF signal amplification stages.

2. The system according to claim 1, where said active device down converts the RF signals to the IF signals.

3. The system according to claim 1, where at least one RF signal amplification stage applies a gain onto the RF signals based upon commands from the decoder.

4. The system according to claim 1, where at least one IF signal amplification stage applies a gain onto the IF signals based upon commands from the decoder.

5. The system according to claim 1, where at least one RF signal amplification stage and IF signal amplification stage applies a gain onto the RF signals and IF signals based upon commands from the decoder.

6. The system according to claim 1, where the passive device receives RF signals from a satellite and a broadcast center.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein each RF signal amplification stage and IF signal amplification stage includes at least one of a low noise amplifier and a low noise block converter.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one amplifier may apply a gain of about 20 dB to about 91 dB.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the decoder selectively adjusts the gain from about 20 dB to about 91 dB based upon the IF signals.

10. The system according to claim 1, where the commands sent by the decoder are using a DiSEqC process.

11. The system according to claim 1, where said commands and IF signals are transmitted upon a single wire connecting the decoder and antenna.

12. A method for a terrestrial transmission of RF signals comprising the steps of:

receiving RF signals via an antenna;

downconverting RF signals to IF signals;

transmitting the IF signals via a wire to a decoder;

using a plurality of RF signal amplification stages for RF signal adjustment;

using a plurality of IF signal amplification stages for IF signal adjustment;

transmitting commands via the wire to the antenna from the decoder upon receipt of the IF signals;

selectively adjusting the RF signals and the IF signals based upon the commands; and

maintaining an acceptable IF signal for receipt by the decoder.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising the step of:

using at least one of a low noise amplifier and a low noise block converter within each respective RF signal amplification stage or IF signal amplification stage.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the step of amplifying applies a gain of about 25 dB to about 91 dB.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising the step of:

selectively activating the gain in order to execute the step of maintaining an acceptable IF signal.

16. The method according to claim 12, further comprising the step of:

amplifying the RF signals and the IF signals based upon the commands.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the step of amplifying applies a gain of about 25 dB to about 91 dB.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising the step of:

selectively activating the gain in order to execute the step of maintaining an accceptable IF signal.

19. The method according to claim 16, further comprising the step of:

using at least one of a low noise amplifier and a low noise block converter to execute the step of amplifying.

20. The method according to claim 12, wherein the RF signal originates from a satellite and a broadcast center.

21. The method according to claim 12, further comprising the step of:

using a DiSEqC process for the commands.

22. A system for terrestrial transmission of RF signals comprising:

an antenna, where said antenna includes an active device and a passive device, where the active device includes a plurality of RF signal amplification stages and a plurality of IF signal amplification stages and the passive receives RF signals, where the active device down converts the RF signals to IF signals and applies a gain to at least one of the RF signals and the IF signals; and

a decoder connected to the antenna, where decoder receives and analyzes the IF signals from said antenna and upon receipt of the IF signals sends commands to the active device in order to maintain an acceptable IF signal, where said commands instruct the active device to selectively activate or deactivate at least one of the RF signal amplification stages and at least one of the IF signal amplification stages.

23. The system according to claim 22, wherein the gain applied may be about 25 dB to about 91 dB.

24. The system according to claim 22, wherein the at least one amplifier selectively applies a gain to both the RF signals and IF signals based upon the commands.

25. The system according to claim 22, where the at least one amplifier includes a low noise amplifier and a low noise block converter.

26. The system according to claim 22, where the commands are using a DiSEqC process.

27. The system according to claim 22, where the commands and IF signals are transmitted upon a single wire connecting the decoder and antenna.

28. A system for terrestrial transmission of RF signals comprising:

a plurality of antennas, where each antenna includes an active device and a passive device, where the passive device receives RF signals, and the active device down converts the RF signals to IF signals;

said active device further includes a plurality of RF signal amplification stages and a plurality of IF signal amplification stages;

a plurality of master decoders, where each master decoder receives and analyzes the IF signals from each antenna and upon receipt of the IF signals sends commands to each respective active device that selectively activate or deactivate at least one of the RF signal amplification stages and at least one of the IF signal amplification stages in order to maintain an acceptable IF signal; and

a distribution switch, where said distribution switch receives each IF signal transmitted through each master decoder and transmits each IF signal to a plurality of end user decoders, where each end user decoder receives and analyzes the IF signals from said distribution switch and upon receipt of the IF signals sends commands to the distribution switch that selectively activate or deactivate at least one of the RF signal amplification stages and at least one of the IF signal amplification stages in order to maintain an acceptable IF signal.

29. The system according to claim 28, where each active device of each antenna selectively applies a gain to at least one of the RF signals and IF signals based upon commands from each respective master decoder.

30. The system according to claim 28, where each active device of each antenna and selectively applies a gain to both the RF signals and IF signals based upon commands from each respective master decoder.

31. The system according to claim 28, where said distribution switch includes a plurality of amplifiers that connect to the plurality of end user decoders, each respective amplifier selectively applying a gain to each respective IF signal based upon the commands of each respective end user decoder.

32. The system according to claim 28, where said distribution switch transmits IF signal to at least one further distribution switch, wherein at least one further decoder connects the distribution switch to the at least one further distribution switch.