Power management for remote antenna units in distributed antenna systems

• US 9,419,712 B2
• Filed: 09/04/2015
• Issued: 08/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Corning Optical Communications LLC (Corning Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: CCS Technology Inc. (Corning Incorporated)
• Inventors: Heidler, Christian, Hull, Jonathan Richard, Kedziora, Jessica Joy, Sauer, Michael, Schweiker, Wolfgang Gottfried Tobias
• Primary Examiner(s): Bayard, Emmanuel
• Application Number:
  US14/845,768
• Publication Number:
  US 20150382292A1
• Time in Patent Office: 347 Days
• Field of Search: 375219-222, 375/356, 375/142
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/11 Arrangements specific to free-space transmission, i.e. transmission through air or vacuum
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/25753 Distribution optical network, e.g. between a base station and a plurality of remote units
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/808 Electrical power feeding of an optical transmission system
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/04 using two or more spaced independent antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0206 in access points, e.g. base stations access point devices per se H04W88/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0261 managing power supply demand, e.g. depending on battery level
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/085 Access point devices with remote components
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Power management for a remote antenna unit(s) (RAUs) in a distributed antenna system. Power can be managed for an RAU configured to power modules and devices that may require more power to operate than power available to the RAU. For example, the RAU may be configured to include power-consuming RAU modules to provide distributed antenna system-related services. As another example, the RAU may be configured to provide power through powered ports in the RAU to external power-consuming devices. Depending on the configuration of the RAU, the power-consuming RAU modules and/or external power-consuming devices may demand more power than is available at the RAU. In this instance, the power available at the RAU can be distributed to the power-consuming modules and devices based on the priority of services desired to be provided by the RAU.

Claims

1. A wireless communication system, comprising:

a plurality of remote antenna units (RAU), each RAU comprising a radio frequency (RF) communications module having at least one antenna configured to provide RF communications services to a coverage area,

wherein at least one of the RAUs is configured to provide power to at least one external power-consuming device connected to at least one powered port; and

a head-end unit (HEU) comprising a remote controller communicatively coupled to the plurality of RAUs, wherein the remote controller is configured to;

communicate with the at least one RAU to determine an available power budget for the at least one powered port; and

communicate the available power budget for the at least one powered port in the at least one RAU to the at least one RAU.

2. The wireless system of claim 1, wherein the at least one RAU is configured to transmit uplink optical communications signals to the HEU, and wherein the HEU comprises at least one interface module configured to receive and process downlink communications signals.

3. The wireless system of claim 2, wherein the HEU comprises at least one optical interface module configured to convert the downlink communications signals into downlink optical signals, and wherein the HEU is optically coupled to the at least one RAU.

4. The wireless system of claim 3, wherein the remote controller is configured to receive a type of at least one power-consuming RAU module present in the at least one RAU from the at least one RAU.

5. The wireless system of claim 4, wherein the remote controller is configured to determine the available power budget for the at least one powered port based on power required for the at least one power-consuming RAU module present in the at least one RAU.

6. The wireless system of claim 5, wherein the remote controller is further configured to look up in memory coupled to the remote controller, the power required for the at least one power-consuming RAU module present in the at least one RAU.

7. The wireless system of claim 5, wherein the remote controller is configured to determine the power required for the at least one power-consuming RAU module present in the at least one RAU based on a type of the RAU module.

8. The wireless system of claim 2, wherein the remote controller is further configured to receive a power status of the at least one powered port from the at least one RAU.

9. A method of managing power consumed at a remote antenna unit (RAU) in a wireless communication system comprising a plurality of RAUs, the method comprising:

receiving an available power budget for at least one powered port configured to provide power to at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port based on power required by at least one power-consuming RAU module;

enabling power for the at least one powered port if the available power budget is sufficient to power the at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port; and

disabling the at least one powered port if the available power budget is not sufficient to power the at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one powered port is comprised of a plurality of powered ports, the method further comprising disabling at least one first port among the plurality of powered ports if the available power budget is only sufficient to power the at least one external power-consuming device connected to at least one second port among the plurality of powered ports.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining if a status of the at least one powered port has changed, and determining a device class of the at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port.

12. A method of managing power consumed at a remote antenna unit (RAU) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

receiving an available power budget for at least one powered port configured to provide power to at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port based on power required by at least one power-consuming RAU module;

determining a device class of the at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port;

enabling power for the at least one powered port if the available power budget is sufficient to power the at least one external power-consuming device of the device class connected to the at least one powered port; and

disabling power for the at least one powered port if the available power budget is not sufficient to power the at least one external power-consuming device of the device class.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the RAU is configured to communicate optical uplink communications signals, to receive optical downlink communications signals, and to receive RF uplink communications signals.