Systems and methods for controlling quality of service at picocells using agnostic platform

• US 8,798,678 B2
• Filed: 09/01/2011
• Issued: 08/05/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Public Wireless, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Public Wireless, Inc.
• Inventors: Nguyen, Quang, Shi, Henry, Nino, Robert, Reagan, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Prez-Gutirrez, Rafael
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fang, Keith
• Application Number:
  US13/224,054
• Publication Number:
  US 20120058777A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,069 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 455/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/085 Access point devices with remote components

Abstract

Systems and methods for maintaining the quality of service provided by a picocell and for reducing the cost to maintain and operate the picocell. The systems and methods provided herein, in an embodiment, provide for a backhaul and radio agnostic system where the picocell is highly configurable and can be used with a variety of different types of backhauls and radio devices. Remote monitoring and configuration of the device may be provided to reduce the cost of maintaining the picocell.

Claims

1. A remotely-configurable base station, comprising:

a plurality of radio devices, each of the plurality of radio devices configured to establish one or more wireless links between the base station and one or more user devices using any one of a plurality of frequency bands and any one of a plurality of communication protocols;

one or more sensors configured to capture environmental information;

a heating/cooling system configured to maintain at least one of a temperature and humidity of the base station;

a backhaul module configured to connect to a network using a backhaul connection; and

a common controller module, comprising a first processor, and configured to

direct data between the plurality of radio devices and the network using the backhaul module,

monitor the data communicated between the plurality of radio devices and the network via the backhaul module,

individually activate and deactivate each of the plurality of radio devices,

receive configuration information from a remote network operations center,

based on the configuration information and the information from the monitoring of the data communicated between the plurality of radio devices and the network, individually configure each of the plurality of radio devices to use any one of the plurality of frequency bands and any one of the plurality of communication protocols; and

an on/off controller, comprising, a second processor, and configured to

turn on or off components of the base station, including powering on or off the common controller module while the on/off controller module remains powered, and

receive remote instructions from a network operations center via the backhaul module instructing the on/off controller to power on or off one or more of the components of the base station.

2. A remotely-configurable base station, comprising:

radio devices, each of the radio devices configured to establish one or more wireless links between the base station and one or more user devices;

a backhaul module configured to provide communications to a network;

one or more sensors configured to capture temperature information;

a heating/cooling system;

a common control module comprising a first processor and configured to

transmit data received from the one or more user devices by the radio devices to the backhaul module for communication to the network,

transmit data received from the network by the backhaul module to at least one of the one or more user devices using the radio devices,

monitor the data communicated between the radio devices and the backhaul module,

configure the radio devices based at least in part on information from the monitoring of the data transmitted between the radio devices and the backhaul module,

individually activate and deactivate each of the radio devices,

detect if an activated one of the radio devices is faulty, and, in response to a detection that the activated one of the radio devices has failed, activate a previously inactive one of the radio devices,

receive the temperature information from the one or more sensors, and

control the heating/cooling system to maintain an operating temperature range of the base station based on the temperature information; and

an on/off controller module comprising a second processor and configured to

power down the common control module while the on/off controller module remains powered, and

receive remote instructions from a network operations center via the backhaul module and power down the common control module in response to the received instructions.

3. The base station of claim 2, wherein the common control module is further configured to receive configuration information from a remote network operations center via the backhaul module, and based on the configuration information, reconfigure one or more of the radio devices to use a different communication protocol than it was using prior to the reconfiguration.

4. The base station of claim 3, wherein the common control module is further configured to send a status message to the remote network operations center via the backhaul module, the status message containing information about the status of the radio devices.

5. The base station of claim 2, wherein the radio device support system module further comprises a global positioning system (GPS) module configured to provide location data, and wherein common control module is further configured to self-configure the base station based at least in part on the location data.

6. The base station of claim 2, wherein the common control module is further configured to activate a previously inactive one of the radio devices when the information from the monitoring of the data transmitted between the radio devices and the backhaul module indicates a high utilization period.

7. The base station of claim 2, further comprising

a plurality of antennas;

a radio frequency (RF) front end module coupled to the antennas and the radio devices, the RF front end module configured to combine and split signals sent between the plurality of antennas and the radio devices.

8. The base station of claim 2, wherein the on/off controller is further configured to individually power on or off the radio devices.

9. The base station of claim 8, wherein the on/off controller is further configured to receive instructions via the backhaul module, and power on or off of the radio devices in response to the received instructions.

10. The base station of claim 2, wherein the backhaul module is operable in a plurality of connection types comprising at least two connection types selected from the group consisting of a cable television connection, a data over cable service interface specification connection, a digital subscriber line connection, an asymmetric digital subscriber line connection, a very-high-bit-rate digital subscriber line connection, a digital signal 1 connection, an optical fiber connection, and a satellite connection.

11. The base station of claim 2, wherein the common control module is further configured to provide one or more of synchronization of backhaul traffic, jitter buffering, stack jitter control, and derivation of frequency and timing from traffic flow.

12. The base station of claim 2, wherein the common control module is further configured to assign one or more Internet Protocol addresses to each of the radio devices.

13. The base station of claim 2, wherein the radio device support system module is further configured to be coupled to a second base station to share the backhaul module to provide communications to the network.