Cellular repeater watermarking system and method

• US 7,917,084 B2
• Filed: 05/04/2007
• Issued: 03/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Wilson Electronics LLC (Wilson Electronics Holdings LLC)
• Original Assignee: Wilson Electronics
• Inventors: MacConnell, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Rego; Dominic E
• Application Number:
  US11/744,756
• Publication Number:
  US 20080020705A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,425 Days
• Field of Search: 455/15, 455/11.1, 455/3.02, 455/427, 455/7, 455/12.1, 455/13.1, 455/13.2, 455/16
• US Class Current: 455/11.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15535 Control of relay amplifier gain amplifier gain control in general H03G3/00; gain control reducing self - or loop interference H04B7/15578
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/26 Cell enhancers or enhancement, e.g. for tunnels, building shadow
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/20 Manipulation of established connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/16 Interfaces between hierarchically similar devices

Abstract

A method and system for providing a watermark by amplitude modulating data onto signals being repeated from and/or to a cellular telephone handset without degrading the performance of the cellular telephone system. An exemplary cellular repeater system may include a first communication device configured to receive a cellular telephone signal from a handset. The cellular telephone signal is amplified by a variable gain amplifier configured to create an adjusted signal. The amplification factor applied by the variable gain amplifier is controlled by a message encoder configured in accordance with a predetermined encoding scheme. The adjusted signal is then transmitted to a base station by a second communication device.

Claims

1. In a cellular repeater system, a method for watermarking a cellular telephone signal, the method comprising:

receiving an uplink signal from a handset;

applying a first watermark identifier to the uplink signal by modulating the uplink signal in accordance with a first predetermined encoding scheme, wherein the first watermark identifier identifies effects introduced to the uplink signal by the cellular repeater system;

transmitting the modulated uplink signal to a base station, wherein the base station accounts for the effects introduced by the cellular repeater system;

receiving a downlink signal from the base station;

modulating the downlink signal in accordance with a second predetermined encoding scheme for applying a second watermark identifier to the downlink signal wherein the first predetermined encoding scheme and the second predetermined encoding scheme are the same, and wherein the first watermark identifier and the second watermark identifier are the same; and

transmitting the modulated downlink signal to the handset.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the watermark identifier identifies at least one property of the cellular repeater system and is decodable by a recipient of the uplink signal to be used to account for the effects introduced by the cellular repeater system.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the first watermark identifier identifies a delay time introduced to the uplink signal by the cellular repeater system.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising amplifying the uplink signal prior to transmitting to the base station.

5. In a cellular telephone system, a cellular repeater system with watermarking capabilities, the cellular repeater system comprising:

a first antenna for communicating signals to and from a base station;

a second antenna for communicating signals to and from a handset;

a first variable gain module having an input coupled to the first antenna and an output coupled to the second antenna, the first variable gain module applying a first amplification factor to the signals received from the base station;

a second variable gain module having an input coupled to the second antenna and an output coupled to the first antenna, the second variable gain module applying a second amplification factor to the signals received from the handset; and

at least one message encoder configured to control at least one of the first amplification factor and the second amplification factor in accordance with a predetermined encoding scheme, wherein the signals received from the handset or from the base station are modulated with at least one watermark identifier according to the predetermined encoding scheme without affecting a performance of the cellular telephone system, wherein the at least one watermark identifier identifies effects introduced by the cellular repeater system and enables a recipient of the modulated signals to account for the effects identified by the watermark, wherein the at least one message encoder applies the at least one watermark identifier to the signals received from the base station and to the signals received from the handset using amplitude modulation and wherein the at least one message encoder utilized an identical watermark data rate for the signals received from the base station and the signals received from the handset.

6. The cellular repeater system as recited in claim 5, wherein the at least one message encoder applies the at least one watermark identifier to the signals received from the base station using amplitude modulation.

7. The cellular repeater system as recited in claim 5, wherein the at least one message encoder utilizes a first watermark data rate for the signals received from the base station and a second watermark data rate for the signals received from the handset, wherein the first and second watermark data rates are different.

8. The cellular repeater system as recited in claim 5, wherein the at least one watermark identifier includes a first watermark identifier and a second watermark identifier, wherein the at least one message encoder applies the first watermark identifier to the signals received from the base station and the second watermark identifier to the signals received from the handset, wherein the first and second watermark identifiers are different.

9. The cellular repeater system as recited in claim 5, wherein the at least one message encoder further comprises a first message encoder for controlling the first amplification factor and a second message encoder for controlling the second amplification factor.

10. The cellular repeater system as recited in claim 5, further comprising at least one low-pass data filter for filtering out the high frequencies of signals produced by the at least on message encoder.