Antenna-to-base station selection system

• US 7,925,270 B1
• Filed: 01/19/2007
• Issued: 04/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Johnson, Harold Wayne
• Primary Examiner(s): Eng; George
• Assistant Examiner(s): Brandt; Christopher M
• Application Number:
  US11/624,891
• Time in Patent Office: 1,544 Days
• Field of Search: 455/450, 455/451, 455/452.1, 455/452.2, 455/453, 455/561, 455/562.1, 455/63.1, 455/63.4, 370/328, 370/329, 370/330, 370/341, 370/347, 370/348
• US Class Current: 455/452.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/02 Selection of wireless resources by user or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/046 the resource being in the space domain, e.g. beams

Abstract

A wireless communication system has a plurality of base stations. The wireless communication system maintains a data structure that indicates wireless communication capacity for the base stations by time. The wireless communication system processes a user location and the data structure to select base stations having capacity during selected timeframes. A user communication interface has antennas that exchange wireless communications with the selected base stations. The user communication interface selects the antennas to use for the wireless communications with the selected base stations.

Claims

1. A method of operating a wireless communication system having a plurality of base stations, the method comprising:

maintaining a data structure that indicates wireless communication capacity for the base stations by time;

receiving a location and a communication timeframe for a user;

processing the location to select a set of the base stations that can exchange wireless communications with the location;

processing the data structure and the communication timeframe to select one of the base stations from the set that has the wireless communication capacity during the communication timeframe;

providing a user communication interface to the user, wherein the user communication interface has a first omni-directional antenna and a second uni-directional antenna, wherein the first omni-directional antenna exchanges the wireless communications with the wireless communication system through a first base station, wherein the second uni-directional antenna exchanges the wireless communications with the wireless communication system through the selected base station, and wherein the user communication interface selects between the first omni-directional antenna and the second uni-directional antenna for the exchange of the wireless communications.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected base station that has the wireless communication capacity during the communication timeframe is a farther distance from the user communication interface than the first base station.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising, configuring the second uni-directional antenna to point at the selected base station.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the user communication interface selects between the first omni-directional antenna and the second uni-directional antenna based on signal strength for the wireless communications.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the user communication interface selects between the first omni-directional antenna and the second uni-directional antenna based on the communication timeframe.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the user communication interface initially uses the first omni-directional antenna for the wireless communications and the user communication interface uses the second uni-directional antenna for the wireless communications if degradation occurs with the wireless communications over the first antenna.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the user communication interface initially uses the first omni-directional antenna for the wireless communications and the user communication interface uses the second uni-directional antenna for the wireless communications in response to a control signal from the wireless communication system.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the communication timeframe is selected by the user.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the communication timeframe includes a 7 P.M. to 10 P.M. time period and excludes a 9 A.M. to 4 P.M. time period.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the communication timeframe includes weekends and excludes weekdays.

11. A method of operating a wireless communication system having a plurality of base stations, the method comprising:

maintaining a data structure that indicates wireless communication capacity for the base stations by time;

receiving a location for a user;

processing the location and the data structure to select a first one of the base stations having the wireless communication capacity during a first timeframe and to select a second one of the base stations having the wireless communication capacity during a second timeframe, wherein the first timeframe and the second timeframe are mutually exclusive;

providing a user communication interface to the user, wherein the user communication interface has a first omni-directional antenna and a second uni-directional antenna, wherein the first omni-directional antenna exchanges the wireless communications with the first base station, wherein the second uni-directional antenna exchanges the wireless communications with the second base station, and wherein the user communication interface selects between the first omni-directional antenna and the second uni-directional antenna for the exchange of the wireless communications.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the second base station having the wireless communication capacity during the second timeframe is a farther distance from the user communication interface than the first base station.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising, configuring the first omni-directional antenna to point at the first base station and configuring the second uni-directional antenna to point at the second base station.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the user communication interface selects between the first omni-directional antenna and the second uni-directional antenna based on signal strength for the wireless communications.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the user communication interface selects between the first omni-directional antenna and the second uni-directional antenna based on the first timeframe and the second timeframe.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein the user communication interface initially uses the first omni-directional antenna for the wireless communications and the user communication interface uses the second uni-directional antenna for the wireless communications if degradation occurs with the wireless communications over the first omni-directional antenna.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein the user communication interface initially uses the first omni-directional antenna for the wireless communications and the user communication interface uses the second uni-directional antenna for the wireless communications in response to a control signal from the first base station.

18. The method of claim 11 wherein the first timeframe includes a 9 A.M. to 4 P.M. time period and excludes a 7 P.M. to 10 P.M. time period and the second timeframe includes the 7 P.M. to 10 P.M. time period and excludes the 9 A.M. to 4 P.M. time period.

19. The method of claim 11 wherein the first timeframe includes weekdays and excludes weekends and the second timeframe includes the weekends and excludes the weekdays.

20. A method of operating a wireless communication system having a plurality of base stations, the method comprising:

maintaining a data structure that indicates wireless communication capacity for the base stations by time;

receiving a location and a communication timeframe for a user;

processing the location to select a set of the base stations that can exchange wireless communications with the location;

processing the data structure and the communication timeframe to select one of the base stations from the set that has the wireless communication capacity during the communication timeframe;

providing a user communication interface to the user, wherein the user communication interface has a first antenna and a second antenna, wherein the first antenna comprises an omni-directional antenna and exchanges the wireless communications with the wireless communication system through a first base station, wherein the second antenna comprises a uni-directional antenna and exchanges the wireless communications with the wireless communication system through the selected base station, wherein the user communication interface selects between the first antenna and the second antenna for the exchange of the wireless communications based on the communication timeframe, and wherein the selected base station that has the wireless communication capacity during the communication timeframe is a farther distance from the user communication interface than the first base station.