Reverse link power-controlled repeater

• US 8,665,774 B2
• Filed: 04/08/2011
• Issued: 03/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Dean, Richard F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah, Chirag
• Assistant Examiner(s): Van, Jenkey
• Application Number:
  US13/083,107
• Publication Number:
  US 20110305172A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,061 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/315
• 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 7/2606 Arrangements for base station coverage control, e.g. by using relays in tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/08 Closed loop power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/14 Separate analysis of uplink or downlink
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/146 Uplink power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/46 in multi hop networks, e.g. wireless relay networks

Abstract

The invention provides a mechanism for automatically setting reverse link gain or power for a repeater (120) used in a communication system (100) through the use of the reverse link power control of a built-in wireless communications device. By embedding a wireless communication device (430, 630, 700) inside the repeater and injecting reverse link signals of the embedded device into the reverse link of the repeater (124A, 124B), the gain of the repeater is maintained relatively constant. The embedded WCD can also be activated on a periodic basis to make calls and utilize reverse link power-control to calibrate or re-calibrate the gain of the repeater, making it a power-controlled repeater.

Claims

1. A repeater comprising:

repeater circuitry comprising;

forward link circuitry configured to receive and repeat wireless signals received at the repeater from a network device, the forward link circuitry comprising at least one forward link amplifier to amplify at least a portion of the wireless signals received at the repeater from the network device;

reverse link circuitry configured to receive and repeat wireless signals received at the repeater from a mobile device for transmission to the network device, the reverse link circuitry comprising at least one reverse link amplifier to amplify at least a portion of the wireless signals received at the repeater from the mobile device; and

a control module comprising;

a mobile station modem which receives signals from the forward link circuitry through a wired connection and is configured to communicate with the network device independent of the repeated wireless signals, said wired connection comprising an attenuator to attenuate said received signals from the forward link circuitry, wherein said wired connection further comprises a coupler to transfer at least a portion of forward link power of said received signals from the forward link circuitry to the attenuator; and

a microcontroller in communication with the modem, the microcontroller configured to receive information indicative of communications between the network device and the modem, the microcontroller further configured to generate reverse link control information using the information indicative of communications between the network device and the modem.

2. The repeater of claim 1, wherein the forward link circuitry is coupled to a first duplexer and a second duplexer, and wherein the reverse link circuitry is coupled to the first duplexer and the second duplexer.

3. The repeater of claim 2, further comprising a donor antenna and a server antenna, and wherein the first duplexer is in communication with the donor antenna and the second duplexer is in communication with the server antenna.

4. The repeater of claim 1, wherein the information indicative of communications between the network device and the modem comprises information indicative of power control signals received by the modem from the network device.

5. The repeater of claim 1, wherein the information indicative of communications between the network device and the modem comprises network-based gain control information, and wherein the reverse link control information comprises reverse link gain control information.

6. The repeater of claim 5, wherein the network-based gain control information comprises power control commands and the reverse link gain control information comprises reverse link power adjustments, and wherein the microcontroller is configured to reduce the power control rate by reducing the rate of reverse link power adjustments.

7. The repeater of claim 5, wherein the reverse link circuitry includes one or more variable gain elements, and wherein the microcontroller is further configured to provide the reverse link gain control information to at least one of the one or more variable gain elements of the reverse link circuitry.

8. The repeater of claim 1, wherein the modem is included in a repeater phone embedded in the repeater.

9. The repeater of claim 1, wherein the microcontroller is configured to establish communication sessions between the modem and the network device.

10. The repeater of claim 9, wherein the microcontroller is configured to establish communication sessions between the modem and the network device periodically.

11. The repeater of claim 9, wherein the microcontroller is configured to establish communication sessions between the modem and the network device to calibrate or re-calibrate a gain of the repeater.

12. The repeater of claim 1, wherein the microcontroller is further configured to monitor alarm indications of the repeater.

13. The repeater of claim 1, wherein said wired connection further comprises a circulator to transfer said received signals from the forward link circuitry to the mobile station modem.

14. A method of controlling a repeater including a repeater phone comprising:

receiving and repeating wireless signals from a network device,

amplifying at least a portion of the wireless signals received from the network device;

receiving and repeating wireless signals received from a mobile device for transmission to the network device,

amplifying at least a portion of the wireless signals received from the mobile device; and

communicating between the repeater phone and the network device independent of the repeating wireless signals between a mobile device and a network device, wherein the repeater phone receives signals over a wired connection, said wired connection comprising an attenuator to attenuate said received signals, said wired connection coupling at least a portion of the forward link power of said received signals to the attenuator; and

controlling one or more parameters of the repeating the wireless signals between the mobile device and the network device based on the communicating between the repeater phone and the network device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein controlling the one or more parameters of the repeating the wireless signals comprises controlling a reverse link gain of the repeater.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the controlling the reverse link gain of the repeater comprises calibrating the reverse link gain of the repeater.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the calibrating the reverse link gain of the repeater comprises establishing a communication between the repeater phone and the network device and generating at least one power control signal based on information related to signal power determined during a duration of the communication.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising, in said wired connection, circulating said received signals to the repeater phone.

19. A repeater, comprising:

means for receiving and repeating wireless signals from a network device;

means for amplifying at least a portion of the wireless signals received from the network device;

means for receiving and repeating wireless signals from a mobile device for transmission to the network device;

means for amplifying at least a portion of the wireless signals received from the mobile device;

means for communicating between a repeater phone and the network device independent of the repeating wireless signals between the mobile device and the network device, wherein the repeater phone receives signals over a wired connection, said wired connection comprising means for attenuating said received signals and means for coupling at least a portion of the forward link power of said received signals to said means for attenuating; and

means for controlling one or more parameters of the repeating the wireless signals between the mobile device and the network device based on the communicating between the repeater phone and the network device.

20. The repeater of claim 19, wherein means for controlling the one or more parameters of the repeating the wireless signals further comprises means for controlling a reverse link gain of the repeater.

21. The repeater of claim 20, wherein the means for controlling the reverse link gain of the repeater further comprises means for calibrating the reverse link gain of the repeater.

22. The repeater of claim 19, wherein said wired connection further comprises means for circulating said received signals to the repeater phone.

23. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions, which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations, the instructions comprising:

instructions to receive and repeat wireless signals from a network device;

instructions to amplify at least a portion of the wireless signals received from the network device;

instructions to receive and repeat wireless signals from a mobile device for transmission to the network device;

instructions to amplify at least a portion of the wireless signals received from the mobile device;

instructions to communicate between a repeater phone and the network device independent of the repeating wireless signals between the mobile device and the network device, wherein the repeater phone receives signals over a wired connection, said wired connection comprising an attenuator to attenuate said received signals and a coupler to transfer at least a portion of forward link power of said received signals to the attenuator; and

instructions to control one or more parameters of the repeating the wireless signals between the mobile device and the network device based on the communicating between the repeater phone and the network device.

24. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein said wired connection further comprises a circulator to transfer said received signals to the repeater phone.