Method and system for a channel selective repeater with capacity enhancement in a spread-spectrum wireless network

• US 7,936,711 B2
• Filed: 11/28/2005
• Issued: 05/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Leidos, Inc. (Leidos Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Science Applications International Corporation
• Inventors: Slocumb, Travis H. III, Kilfoyle, Daniel B., Carson, Steven
• Primary Examiner(s): Wilson; Robert W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kamara; Mohamed
• Application Number:
  US11/287,226
• Publication Number:
  US 20060077927A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,982 Days
• Field of Search: 455/17, 455/19, 455 20- 22, 455/11.1, 455/522, 455436-437, 455/234.1, 375221-222, 375/231, 375/246, 370/347, 370/320, 370/335, 178/69
• US Class Current: 370/328
• 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: 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 7/15585 by interference cancellation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2606 Arrangements for base station coverage control, e.g. by using relays in tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/26 Cell enhancers or enhancement, e.g. for tunnels, building shadow

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and method for extending the coverage area and communication capacity of a spread-spectrum based wireless network through the use of intelligent repeaters. The system comprises a wireless communication network augmented with low cost channel selective repeaters that is capable of repeating only desired signals, thereby suppressing undesirable interference and increasing network capacity. The repeaters can be integrated into an existing wireless network with minimal impact to the existing network layer topology or control structure.

Claims

1. A method for selectively repeating RF signals communicated between a plurality of base stations and a plurality of user equipments (UEs) in a wireless communication network, comprising:

receiving at a digital repeater a RF signal transmitted from a first base station to the plurality of UEs;

identifying by the digital repeater received digital communication channels embedded in the received RF signal;

identifying by the digital repeater a first UE from the plurality of UEs that is in soft handoff with a second base station;

selecting the identified first UE by the digital repeater;

selecting a first one of the received digital communication channels embedded in the received RF signal by the digital repeater;

associating by the digital repeater the selected first one of the received digital communication channels with the selected first UE in soft handoff;

applying by the digital repeater a predetermined gain value to the selected first digital communication channel; and

transmitting the first digital communication channel with the applied predetermined gain value to the first UE.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying by the digital repeater a second UE from the plurality of UEs that is in soft handoff with a base station other than the first base station;

associating by the digital repeater a second one of the received digital communication channels with the identified second UE in soft handoff; and

applying by the digital repeater the predetermined gain value to the received second digital communication channel.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

measuring by the digital repeater a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) of the received first digital communication channel;

measuring by the digital repeater a SINR of the received second digital communication channel;

modifying once the predetermined gain value by the digital repeater to generate a first fixed gain value based on the measuring of the SINR of the first digital communication channel;

modifying once the predetermined gain value by the digital repeater to generate a second fixed gain value based on the measuring of the SINR of the second digital communication channel;

applying by the digital repeater the first fixed gain value to the received first digital communication channel; and

applying by the digital repeater the second fixed gain value to the received second digital communication channel.