System and method for communicating a combined digital signal for wireless service via integrated hybrid fiber coax and power line communication devices for a distributed antenna system over shared broadband media

• US 7,848,731 B1
• Filed: 08/14/2007
• Issued: 12/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Dianda, Janet Ruth, Prasad, Sunil
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel; Ajit
• Application Number:
  US11/838,744
• Time in Patent Office: 1,211 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 455/402
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2203/5441 Wireless systems or telephone
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 3/54 Systems for transmission via power distribution lines
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2801 Broadband local area networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/066 Telephone sets adapted for data transmision

Abstract

A signal conditioner (SC) and method for communicating via a shared transport medium (STM) between a BTS and remote antenna entity (RAE). A first SC connects to the BTS and a second SC connects to the RAE. Each SC connects to a cable modem or BPL modem that interfaces to the STM. The first SC receives an RF signal carrying an analog baseband signal (ABS) representing digital signals for multiple communication channels. The first SC generates a CDS based on power level measurements of the ABS, and then transmits the CDS to the second SC via the STM. The second SC recovers the CDS, converts the CDS to another ABS, generates an RF signal carrying the other ABS, and transmits this RF signal to the RAE for transmission away from the RAE. The first SC and second SC also facilitate communication of a CDS from the RAE to BTS.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

an antenna;

a cable modem connectable to a coaxial cable of a Hybrid Fiber Coaxial (HFC) network;

a remote antenna entity connected to the antenna,

wherein the remote antenna entity receives from the antenna a first radio frequency (RF) signal carrying a first analog baseband signal representing digital signals having a destination of a base transceiver station (BTS),

wherein the digital signals are transmitted to the antenna via multiple reverse-link communication channels from one or more wireless communication devices; and

a first signal conditioner connected to the remote antenna entity and to the cable modem,

wherein the first signal conditioner (i) receives the first RF signal from the remote antenna entity, (ii) demodulates the first RF signal to recover the first analog baseband signal, (iii) makes power level measurements of the recovered first analog baseband signal, (iv) generates a combined digital signal comprising data bits representing one of the power level measurements, (v) generates a set of broadband packets with payload carrying the combined digital signal, and (vi) provides the set of broadband packets with payload carrying the combined digital signal to the cable modem for transmission over the HFC network for receipt at a second signal conditioner that interfaces to the BTS.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a housing,

wherein the remote antenna entity and the first signal conditioner are located within the housing.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the antenna is located within the housing.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein at least a portion of the antenna is located outside of the housing.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the cable modem includes an F-connector.

6. The system of claim 1,

wherein the digital signals are converted to the first analog baseband signal at a clock rate interval for an air interface protocol defining the multiple reverse-link communication channels, and

wherein the power level measurements of the recovered first analog baseband signal are made at the clock rate interval.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the clock rate interval is between 800 nano seconds and 850 nano seconds.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the digital signals comprise all of the digital signals for a given cell or cell sector of the BTS for reverse-link communications during the interval when the one power level measurement is made.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a broadband over power line (BPL) modem that receives electrical current via an electrical power line connected to the BPL modem;

wherein the BPL modem (i) receives from the first signal conditioner, the set of broadband packets with payload carrying the combined digital signal, (ii) modulates the set of broadband packets with payload carrying the combined digital signal onto the received electrical current so as to convert the received electrical current into a modulated electrical current carrying the set of broadband packets with payload carrying the combined digital signal, and (iii) provides the modulated electrical current to the power line for transmission of the set of broadband packets over the power line, and

wherein the set of broadband packets with payload carrying the combined digital signal is recovered from the modulated electrical current at another BPL modem located at a far-end of the power line,

and wherein the combined digital signal is recovered from the set of broadband packets and thereafter provided to the BTS.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the first signal conditioner provides the set of broadband packets to the cable modem and the BPL modem at substantially the same time.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a broadband over power line (BPL) modem connected to an electrical power line;

a processor; and

data storage containing program instructions executable by the processor,

wherein the program instructions include instructions that cause the processor to;

(i) determine that the system cannot communicate via the HFC network, and responsively cause the system to operate in a first mode, and (ii) determine that the system can communicate via the HFC network, and responsively cause the system to operate in a second mode,

wherein when the system operates in the first mode, the BPL modem transmits the set of broadband packets with payload carrying the combined digital signal to the electrical power line, and

wherein when the system operates in the second mode, the cable modem transmits the set of broadband packets with payload carrying the combined digital signal to the HFC network.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

the second signal conditioner,

wherein the second signal conditioner receives from the BTS a second RF signal carrying a second analog baseband signal representing digital signals destined to be sent to the one or more wireless communication devices via multiple forward-link communication channels,

wherein the second signal conditioner (i) demodulates the second RF signal to recover the second analog baseband signal, (ii) makes power level measurements of the recovered second analog baseband signal, (iii) generates a second combined digital signal comprising data bits representing one of the power level measurements of the recovered second analog baseband signal, and (iv) generates a second set of broadband packets with payload carrying the second combined digital signal,

wherein the cable modem receives from the second signal conditioner via the HFC network the second set of broadband packets with payload carrying the second combined digital signal,

wherein the first signal conditioner (i) receives from the cable modem the second set of broadband packets with payload carrying the second combined digital signal, (ii) recovers the second combined digital signal from the second set of broadband packets, (iii) converts the second combined digital signal to a third analog baseband signal substantially similar to the second analog baseband signal, and (iv) modulates an RF carrier with the third analog baseband signal so as to generate a third RF signal carrying the third analog baseband signal,

wherein the remote antenna entity receives from the first signal conditioner the third RF signal and transmits the third RF signal to the antenna for transmission of the third RF signal to the one or more wireless communication devices.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is located within an indoor premises.

14. A method comprising:

at a remote antenna entity, receiving from an antenna connected to the remote antenna entity a first radio frequency (RF) signal carrying a first analog baseband signal,

wherein the first analog baseband signal represents digital signals having a destination of a base transceiver station (BTS), wherein the first RF signal comprises multiple RF signals transmitted to the antenna via multiple reverse-link communication channels from one or more wireless communication devices; and

at a first signal conditioner connected to the remote antenna entity and to a cable modem connectable to a Hybrid Fiber Coaxial (HFC) network, (i) receiving the first RF signal from the remote antenna entity, (ii) demodulating the first RF signal to recover the first analog baseband signal, (iii) making power level measurements of the recovered first analog baseband signal, (iv) generating a first combined digital signal comprising data bits representing one of the power level measurements of the recovered first analog baseband signal, (v) producing a first set of broadband packets with payload carrying the first combined digital signal, and (vi) providing the first set of broadband packets with payload carrying the first combined digital signal to the cable modem for transmission of the first set of broadband packets with payload carrying the first combined digital signal via the HFC network and, in turn, to the BTS.

15. The method of claim 14,

wherein the digital signals are converted to the first analog baseband signal at a clock rate interval for an air interface protocol defining the multiple reverse-link communication channels, and

wherein the power level measurements of the recovered first analog baseband signal are made at the clock rate interval.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

at a second signal conditioner that interfaces to the BTS (i) receiving from the BTS a second RF signal carrying a second analog baseband signal, (ii) demodulating the second RF signal to recover the second analog baseband signal, (iii) making power level measurements of the recovered second analog baseband signal, (iv) generating a second combined digital signal comprising data bits representing one of the power level measurements of the recovered second analog baseband signal, and (iv) generating a second set of broadband packets with payload carrying the second combined digital signal,

wherein the second analog baseband signal represents digital signals destined to be sent to the one or more wireless communication devices over multiple forward-link communication channels,

at the cable modem, receiving from the HFC network the second set of broadband packets,

at the first signal conditioner, receiving from the cable modem the second set of broadband packets, recovering the second combined digital signal from the second set of broadband packets, converting the second combined digital signal to a third analog baseband signal substantially similar to the second analog baseband signal, and modulating an RF carrier with the third analog baseband signal so as to generate a third RF signal carrying the third analog baseband signal; and

providing the third RF signal from the first signal conditioner to the remote antenna entity for transmission of the third RF signal away from the remote antenna entity via the antenna.

17. The method of claim 16,

wherein the cable modem receives from the HFC network a plurality of sub-carriers including a given sub-carrier,

wherein the second set of broadband packets is carried to the cable modem via the given sub-carrier,

wherein the cable modem includes filter circuitry and a demodulator,

wherein the cable modem passes the plurality of sub-carriers through the filter circuitry for recovery of the given sub-carrier, and

wherein the given sub-carrier is provided to the demodulator for recovering from the given sub-carrier the second set of broadband packets with payload carrying the second combined digital signal.

18. The method of claim 14,

wherein the first signal conditioner is connected to a broadband over power line (BPL) modem, and

wherein the BPL modem is connectable to a power line carrying an electrical current,

the method further comprising:

receiving at the BPL modem (i) the electrical current from the power line, and (ii) from the first signal conditioner, the first set of broadband packets with payload carrying the first combined digital signal,

at the BPL modem, modulating the first set of broadband packets with payload carrying the first combined digital signal onto the received electrical current so as to convert the received electrical current into a modulated electrical current carrying the first set of broadband packets with payload carrying the first combined digital signal, and

providing the modulated electrical current to the power line for transmission of the modulated electrical current over the power line,

wherein the first set of broadband packets with payload carrying the first combined digital signal can be recovered from the modulated electrical current by another BPL modem located at a far-end of the power line and thereafter transmitted to the BTS.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein providing the first set of broadband packets with payload carrying the first combined digital signal to the cable modem includes providing to an RF carrier of the HFC network a second RF signal modulated with the first set of broadband packets with payload carrying the first combined digital signal.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the multiple communication channels include communication channels selected from the group consisting of:

(i) voice channels, (ii) data channels, and (iii) control channels.

21. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

at the cable modem, modulating a second RF carrier with the first set of broadband packets with payload carrying the first combined digital signal so as to generate a second RF signal that carries the first set of broadband packets,

wherein transmission of the first set of broadband packets with payload carrying the first combined digital signal via the HFC network includes the cable modem transmitting the second RF signal via the HFC network.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein the remote antenna entity and the signal conditioner are located within a housing.

23. A method comprising:

(i) demodulating a first radio frequency (RF) signal carrying a first analog baseband signal so as to recover the analog baseband signal,

wherein the first analog baseband signal represents digital signals destined for transmission to one or more wireless communication devices via multiple communication channels;

(ii) making power level measurements of the recovered first analog baseband signal at a clock rate interval for an air interface protocol defining the multiple communication channels;

(iii) generating a combined digital signal comprising data bits that represent one of the power level measurements of the recovered first analog baseband signal;

(iv) generating a set of broadband packets carrying the combined digital signal as a payload and transmitting the set of broadband packets to a transport medium including a Hybrid Fiber Coaxial (HFC) network,

(v) at a cable modem connectable to the HFC network and to a first signal conditioner connected to a remote antenna entity, receiving from the HFC network the set of broadband packets carrying the combined digital signal as a payload,

(vi) at the first signal conditioner, receiving from the cable modem the set of broadband packets carrying the combined digital signal as a payload, recovering the combined digital signal from the set of broadband packets, converting the recovered combined digital signal to a second analog baseband signal substantially similar to the first analog baseband signal, and modulating an RF carrier with the second analog baseband signal so as to generate a second RF signal carrying the second analog baseband signal;

(vii) providing the second RF signal carrying the second analog baseband signal to the remote antenna entity; and

(viii) transmitting the second RF signal carrying the second analog baseband signal away from the remote antenna entity and to the one or more wireless communication devices.

24. The method of claim 23,

wherein the digital signals are converted to the first analog baseband signal at the clock rate interval for the air interface protocol defining the multiple communication channels.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

repeating the functions of (iii), (iv), (v), (vi), (vii), and (viii) for each of the other power level measurements of the recovered analog baseband signal.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein demodulating the first RF signal, making the power level measurements, generating the combined digital signal, and generating the set of broadband packets are carried out at a base transceiver station.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein demodulating the first RF signal, making the power level measurements, generating the combined digital signal, and generating the set of broadband packets are carried out at a second signal conditioner that interfaces to a remote base transceiver station.