Apparatus and method for frequency shifting of a wireless signal and systems using frequency shifting

• US 7,587,001 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2008
• Issued: 09/08/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Corning Optical Communications Wireless Ltd. (Corning Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: SercoNet Limited (Yehuda Binder, MBA)
• Inventors: Hazani, Ami, Binder, Yehuda
• Primary Examiner(s): Payne; David C
• Assistant Examiner(s): DSOUZA, JOSEPH FRANCIS A
• Application Number:
  US12/038,435
• Publication Number:
  US 20080146146A1
• Time in Patent Office: 559 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 375/316
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15528 Control of operation parameters of a relay station to exploit the physical medium
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15542 Selecting at relay station its transmit and receive resources selection of wireless resources by user or terminal H04W72/02; arrangements affording multiple use of the transmission path by two-dimensional division of the resources H04L5/0003, or by allocating sub-channels H04L5/003
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2606 Arrangements for base station coverage control, e.g. by using relays in tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA

Abstract

Network providing improved coverage based on a frequency shifting scheme. A wireless signal in a frequency band is shifted to another distinct band, and carried in the shifted band, using wired or wireless mediums, to another location, wherein the wireless signal is shifted back to the original frequency band. In one embodiment, the wireless signal is frequency shifted by converting it to other representing signals and forming the frequency-shifted signal from the representations. The medium may use dedicated wiring or existing service wiring in a residence or building, including LAN, telephone, AC power and CATV wiring. The system (in whole or in part) may be enclosed as a stand-alone unit, housed in integrated form as part of a service outlet or as a snap-on/plug-in module.

Claims

1. A network for wireless communication of a wireless signal in a wireless frequency band between at least one first wireless unit and a plurality of second wireless units, said network comprising:

a plurality of distinct wired mediums for interconnecting the first and second wireless units, the wired mediums providing a wired frequency band distinct from, and lower in frequency than, the wireless frequency band, each wired medium having first and second ends;

a center device coupled to the at least one first wireless unit and connected to the first end of each of the wired mediums, said center device being operative to frequency shift the wireless signal between the wireless frequency band and the wired frequency band, and said center device being further operative to couple the at least one first wireless unit to each of said wired mediums; and

a plurality of remote devices, each connected to a second end of a respective one of said wired mediums and each coupled to a respective one of the plurality of second wireless units, each of said remote devices being operative to frequency shift a signal between the wireless frequency band and the wired frequency band, wherein;

said network is operative to allow said center device to receive the wireless signal in the wireless band from the at least one first wireless unit, to down frequency shift the wireless signal to the wired frequency band, and to transmit the shifted wireless signal to all connected wired mediums;

each of said remote devices is operative to up frequency shift the shifted wireless signal from said center device to the wireless frequency band, to reconstruct the wireless signal, and to transmit the reconstructed wireless signal to the respective one of the plurality of second wireless units;

said network is operative to allow one of said remote devices to receive a wireless signal in the wireless band from the one of the plurality of second wireless units coupled thereto, to down frequency shift the received wireless signal to the wired frequency band, and to transmit the shifted wireless signal to the connected wired medium; and

said center device is operative to up frequency shift the received shifted wireless signal to the wireless frequency band to reconstruct the wireless signal, and to transmit the reconstructed first wireless signal to the at least one first wireless unit.

2. The network according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said remote devices comprises a frequency shifter that is based on a heterodyne circuit.

3. The network according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said remote devices comprises a frequency shifter, said frequency shifter comprising:

an I/Q demodulator coupled to receive the wireless signal, for providing the I and Q component signals of the wireless signal;

an I/Q modulator coupled to receive the first wireless signal I and Q component signals, said first I/Q modulator being operative to reconstruct the wireless signal frequency shifted to the wired frequency band.

4. The network according to claim 3, wherein said I/Q modulator and said I/Q demodulator are part of a wireless transceiver component.

5. The network according to claim 1, wherein the wireless signal is a spread-spectrum signal.

6. The network according to claim 1, wherein the first wireless signal is a multi-carrier signal based on one of OFDM, DMT and CDMA modulations.

7. The network according to claim 1, wherein the wireless frequency band is selectable from a plurality of adjacent frequency bands.

8. The network according to claim 7, wherein the wireless frequency band is selected by a switch.

9. The network according to claim 1, wherein the wireless signal conforms to at least one of the following standards:

WPAN, WLAN, WMAN, WAN, BWA, LMDS, MMDS, WiMAX, HIPERMAN, IEEE802.16, Bluetooth, IEEE802.15, UWB, ZigBee, cellular, IEEE802.11 standards, OSM, GPRS, 2.5G, 3G, UMTS, DCS, PCS and CDMA.

10. The network according to claim 1, wherein the wireless frequency band is an ISM frequency band.

11. The network according to claim 1, wherein at least part of one of the wired mediums comprises wiring in a wall.

12. The network according to claim 1, wherein one out of said remote devices is enclosed in a single enclosure that is wall mountable.

13. The network according to claim 12, wherein the single enclosure is shaped to plug into an outlet.

14. The network according to claim 12, wherein the single enclosure is further shaped to mechanically attach and electrically connect to an outlet.

15. The network according to claim 12, wherein the single enclosure is constructed to have at least one of the following:

a form substantially similar to that of a standard outlet;

wall-mounting elements substantially similar to those of a standard wall outlet;

a shape allowing direct mounting in an outlet opening or cavity; and

a form to at least in part substitute for a standard outlet.

16. The network according to claim 1, wherein the wireless signal is transmitted in the wireless frequency band in one of a WPAN, WLAN, MAN and WAN network.

17. The network according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the wired mediums is one of:

a twisted wire pair;

UTP;

STP;

a telephone wire pair;

AC power wires;

a coaxial cable, and a LAN cable.

18. The network according to claim 1, wherein at least one part of one of the wired mediums is in a building and at least another part the one of the wired mediums is external to the building.

19. The network according to claim 1 having a point-to-point topology, wherein at least one of the wired mediums is a single wiring having exactly two ends, said center device is connected to one of the ends of the single wiring and one of said remote devices is connected to the other end of the single wiring.

20. The network according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the wired mediums has a bus, star, tree, or point-to-multipoint topology.

21. The network according to claim 1, wherein:

at least one of the wired mediums is connected to carry a DC or AC power signal using FDM;

the power signal is carried in a frequency band distinct from the wired frequency band; and

at least one of said devices is coupled to be powered by the power signal.

22. The network according to claim 1, wherein:

at least one of the wired mediums is connected to carry a first signal using FDM;

the first signal is carried in a frequency band distinct from the wired frequency band; and

the first signal is one of an analog telephone signal and a CATV-related signal.

23. The network according to claim 1, wherein said center device is conductively coupled to the wireless unit.

24. The network according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said remote devices is conductively coupled to the distinct wireless unit.

25. The network of claim 1, wherein at least one of said remote devices is powered by a power signal carried over at least one of said wired mediums in addition to signals in the wired frequency band carried by said at least one of said wired mediums, using a distinct frequency band, and further comprising a filter coupling said at least one of said remote devices to said at least one of said wired mediums.

26. The network of claim 1, wherein at least one of said wired mediums is connected to concurrently carry analog or digital signals in a distinct frequency band included in the wired frequency band, and wherein the shifted wireless signal is shifted to a portion of the wired frequency band that is separate from the distinct frequency band of the analog or digital signals.