Wireless repeater and method for managing air interface communications
First Claim
1. In a wireless repeater, a method comprising:
- communicating with a radio access network on a plurality of first air interface beams cooperatively defining a first air interface between the wireless repeater and the radio access network, wherein each first air interface beam defines a respective forward link and a respective reverse link, and wherein the forward link of each first air interface beam defines a respective signal characteristic;
communicating with at least one mobile station on a second air interface;
for each first air interface beam, passing communications received on the forward link of the first air interface beam along to the mobile station on the second air interface;
selecting a given one of the first air interface beams based on the signal characteristic of the forward link of the given first air interface beam; and
receiving reverse link communications from the mobile station on the second air interface, and passing the received reverse link communications to the radio access network on only the selected first air interface beam, while continuing to pass forward link communications from each first air interface beam to the mobile station.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A wireless repeater and method for managing air interface communications is provided. A repeater may include a donor antenna, a coverage antenna, a mobile station modem, a processor, and data storage. The donor antenna will receive a plurality of air interface beams on the forward link from a radio access network. The coverage antenna will pass each forward link beam received to a mobile station being served by the repeater. Further, the donor antenna will pass each forward link air interface beam to the MSM, where the MSM will apply a rake receiver to identify a signal characteristic of the forward link of each beam received, and the processor will record in the data storage the signal characteristic corresponding to each beam. Given this data, the repeater will select an air interface beam with the most preferable signal characteristic, and will keep only this beam active for reverse link communications.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. In a wireless repeater, a method comprising:
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communicating with a radio access network on a plurality of first air interface beams cooperatively defining a first air interface between the wireless repeater and the radio access network, wherein each first air interface beam defines a respective forward link and a respective reverse link, and wherein the forward link of each first air interface beam defines a respective signal characteristic; communicating with at least one mobile station on a second air interface; for each first air interface beam, passing communications received on the forward link of the first air interface beam along to the mobile station on the second air interface; selecting a given one of the first air interface beams based on the signal characteristic of the forward link of the given first air interface beam; and receiving reverse link communications from the mobile station on the second air interface, and passing the received reverse link communications to the radio access network on only the selected first air interface beam, while continuing to pass forward link communications from each first air interface beam to the mobile station. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A wireless repeater comprising:
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a donor antenna operable to communicate with a radio access network on a plurality of first air interface beams cooperatively defining a first air interface between the wireless repeater and the radio access network, wherein each first air interface beam defines a respective forward link and a respective reverse link, and wherein the forward link of each first air interface beam defines a respective signal characteristic; a coverage antenna operable to communicate with at least one mobile station on a second air interface; and a mobile station modem, wherein the donor antenna receives communications on the forward link of each first air interface beam and passes the communications to the mobile station modem, wherein, for each first air interface beam, the coverage antenna passes communications received from the mobile station modem along to the mobile station on the second air interface, wherein the wireless repeater selects a given one of the first air interface beams based on the signal characteristic of the forward link of the given first air interface beam, and wherein the wireless repeater receives reverse link communications from the mobile station on the second air interface, and passes the received reverse link communications to the radio access network on only the selected first air interface beam, while continuing to pass forward link communications from each first air interface beam to the mobile station. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification