Flexible head-end chassis supporting automatic identification and interconnection of radio interface modules and optical interface modules in an optical fiber-based distributed antenna system (DAS)
First Claim
1. A head-end chassis for an optical fiber-based distributed antenna system (DAS), comprising:
- a housing;
a plurality of module slots disposed in the housing, each module slot among the plurality of module slots configured to receive a connected module comprised of a radio interface module (RIM) or an optical interface module (OIM);
a backplane disposed in the housing, the backplane comprising;
a plurality of backplane interconnects each associated with a module slot among the plurality of module slots, each backplane interconnect among the plurality of backplane interconnects configured to interconnect with the connected module inserted into the module slot associated with the backplane interconnect;
each backplane interconnect among the plurality of backplane interconnects comprises;
a backplane downlink input configured to receive an electrical downlink communications signal from a RIM;
a backplane downlink output configured to provide an electrical split downlink communications signal to an OIM;
a backplane uplink input configured to receive an electrical uplink communications signal from an OIM; and
a backplane uplink output configured to provide an electrical split uplink communications signal to a RIM;
a downlink combiner comprising a plurality of combiner downlink inputs each corresponding to a backplane interconnect among the plurality of backplane interconnects, the plurality of combiner downlink inputs configured to receive a plurality of electrical downlink communications signals from a plurality of RIMs, combine the received plurality of electrical downlink communications signals into an electrical combined downlink communications signal, and provide the electrical combined downlink communications signal on a combiner downlink output;
a downlink splitter comprising a splitter downlink input configured to receive the electrical combined downlink communications signal from the combiner downlink output, split the received electrical combined downlink communications signal into a plurality of electrical split downlink communications signals, and provide the plurality of electrical split downlink communications signals on a plurality of splitter downlink outputs each corresponding to a backplane interconnect among the plurality of backplane interconnects;
an uplink combiner comprising a plurality of combiner uplink inputs each corresponding to a backplane interconnect among the plurality of backplane interconnects, the plurality of combiner uplink inputs configured to receive a plurality of electrical uplink communications signals from at least one OIM, combine the received plurality of electrical uplink communications signals into an electrical combined uplink communications signal, and provide the electrical combined uplink communications signal on a combiner uplink output;
an uplink splitter comprising a splitter uplink input configured to receive the electrical combined uplink communications signal from the combiner uplink output, split the received electrical combined uplink communications signal into a plurality of electrical split uplink communications signals, and provide the plurality of electrical split uplink communications signals on a plurality of splitter uplink outputs each corresponding to a backplane interconnect among the plurality of backplane interconnects;
a plurality of downlink switches each configured to selectively couple, in response to a downlink switch selector, either the backplane downlink input of a backplane interconnect connected to a RIM, to a corresponding combiner downlink input among the plurality of combiner downlink inputs to provide the electrical downlink communications signal from the RIM to the downlink combiner;
or the backplane downlink output of the backplane interconnect connected to an OIM, to a corresponding splitter downlink output among the plurality of splitter downlink outputs to provide the electrical split downlink communications signal to the OIM; and
a plurality of uplink switches each configured to selectively couple, in response to an uplink switch selector, either the backplane uplink output of a backplane interconnect connected to the RIM, to a corresponding splitter uplink output among the plurality of splitter uplink outputs to provide the electrical split uplink communications signal to the RIM;
or the backplane uplink input of the backplane interconnect connected to the OIM, to a corresponding combiner uplink input among the plurality of combiner uplink inputs to provide the electrical uplink communications signal from the OIM to the uplink combiner.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Flexible head-end chassis supporting automatic identification and interconnection of radio interface modules (RIMs) and optical interface modules (OIMs) in an optical fiber-based distributed antenna system (DAS) are disclosed. In one embodiment, the flexible head-end chassis includes a plurality of module slots each configured to receive either a RIM or an OIM. A chassis control system identifies an inserted RIM or OIM to determine the type of module inserted. Based on the identification of the inserted RIM or OIM, the chassis control system interconnects the inserted RIM or OIM to related combiners and splitters in head-end equipment for the RIM or OIM to receive downlink communication signals and uplink communications signals for processing and distribution in the optical fiber-based DAS. In this manner, the optical fiber-based DAS can easily be configured or reconfigured with different combinations of RIMs and OIMs to support the desired communications services and/or number of remote units.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A head-end chassis for an optical fiber-based distributed antenna system (DAS), comprising:
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a housing; a plurality of module slots disposed in the housing, each module slot among the plurality of module slots configured to receive a connected module comprised of a radio interface module (RIM) or an optical interface module (OIM); a backplane disposed in the housing, the backplane comprising; a plurality of backplane interconnects each associated with a module slot among the plurality of module slots, each backplane interconnect among the plurality of backplane interconnects configured to interconnect with the connected module inserted into the module slot associated with the backplane interconnect; each backplane interconnect among the plurality of backplane interconnects comprises; a backplane downlink input configured to receive an electrical downlink communications signal from a RIM; a backplane downlink output configured to provide an electrical split downlink communications signal to an OIM; a backplane uplink input configured to receive an electrical uplink communications signal from an OIM; and a backplane uplink output configured to provide an electrical split uplink communications signal to a RIM; a downlink combiner comprising a plurality of combiner downlink inputs each corresponding to a backplane interconnect among the plurality of backplane interconnects, the plurality of combiner downlink inputs configured to receive a plurality of electrical downlink communications signals from a plurality of RIMs, combine the received plurality of electrical downlink communications signals into an electrical combined downlink communications signal, and provide the electrical combined downlink communications signal on a combiner downlink output; a downlink splitter comprising a splitter downlink input configured to receive the electrical combined downlink communications signal from the combiner downlink output, split the received electrical combined downlink communications signal into a plurality of electrical split downlink communications signals, and provide the plurality of electrical split downlink communications signals on a plurality of splitter downlink outputs each corresponding to a backplane interconnect among the plurality of backplane interconnects; an uplink combiner comprising a plurality of combiner uplink inputs each corresponding to a backplane interconnect among the plurality of backplane interconnects, the plurality of combiner uplink inputs configured to receive a plurality of electrical uplink communications signals from at least one OIM, combine the received plurality of electrical uplink communications signals into an electrical combined uplink communications signal, and provide the electrical combined uplink communications signal on a combiner uplink output; an uplink splitter comprising a splitter uplink input configured to receive the electrical combined uplink communications signal from the combiner uplink output, split the received electrical combined uplink communications signal into a plurality of electrical split uplink communications signals, and provide the plurality of electrical split uplink communications signals on a plurality of splitter uplink outputs each corresponding to a backplane interconnect among the plurality of backplane interconnects; a plurality of downlink switches each configured to selectively couple, in response to a downlink switch selector, either the backplane downlink input of a backplane interconnect connected to a RIM, to a corresponding combiner downlink input among the plurality of combiner downlink inputs to provide the electrical downlink communications signal from the RIM to the downlink combiner;
or the backplane downlink output of the backplane interconnect connected to an OIM, to a corresponding splitter downlink output among the plurality of splitter downlink outputs to provide the electrical split downlink communications signal to the OIM; anda plurality of uplink switches each configured to selectively couple, in response to an uplink switch selector, either the backplane uplink output of a backplane interconnect connected to the RIM, to a corresponding splitter uplink output among the plurality of splitter uplink outputs to provide the electrical split uplink communications signal to the RIM;
or the backplane uplink input of the backplane interconnect connected to the OIM, to a corresponding combiner uplink input among the plurality of combiner uplink inputs to provide the electrical uplink communications signal from the OIM to the uplink combiner. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for interconnecting a connected module in a head-end chassis with head-end equipment in an optical fiber-based distributed antenna system (DAS) comprising:
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detecting a connection of a connected module comprised of a radio interface module (RIM) or an optical interface module (OIM), to a backplane interconnect of a module slot among a plurality of module slots in a head-end chassis; determining if the connected module in the module slot is a RIM or an OIM; if the connected module in the module slot is determined to be a RIM, coupling the backplane interconnect connected to the RIM to; a downlink combiner configured to receive an electrical downlink communications signal from the RIM, combine the received electrical downlink communications signal into an electrical combined downlink communications signal and provide the electrical combined downlink communications signal to a downlink splitter; an uplink splitter configured to receive an electrical combined uplink communications signal from an uplink combiner, split the electrical combined uplink communications signal into the plurality of electrical split uplink communications signals, and provide the electrical split communications signal to the RIM; and if the connected module in the module slot is determined to be an OIM, coupling the backplane interconnect connected to the OIM to; a downlink splitter configured to receive the electrical combined downlink communications signal from the downlink combiner, split the received electrical combined downlink communications signal into an electrical split downlink communications signal, and provide the electrical split downlink communications signal to the OIM; and an uplink combiner configured to receive an electrical uplink communications signal from the OIM, combine the received electrical uplink communications signal into the electrical combined uplink communications signal, and provide the electrical combined uplink communications signal to the uplink splitter. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An optical fiber-based distributed antenna system (DAS), comprising:
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a central unit, comprising; a plurality of radio interface modules (RIMs) each configured to; receive an electrical downlink communications signal; receive an electrical split uplink communications signal from at least one optical interface module (OIM); a plurality of OIMs each configured to; receive an electrical split downlink communications signal; convert the received electrical split downlink communications signal into an optical split downlink communications signal; distribute the optical split downlink communications signal to a plurality of remote units; receive a plurality of optical uplink communications signals from the plurality of remote units; convert the received plurality of optical uplink communications signals to a plurality of electrical uplink communications signals; each of the plurality of remote units configured to; receive the optical split downlink communications signal from the central unit; convert the received optical split downlink communications signal into an electrical split downlink communications signal; distribute the electrical split downlink communications signal to at least one client device; receive an electrical uplink communications signal from the at least one client device; convert the received electrical uplink communications signal into an optical uplink communications signal; and distribute the optical uplink communications signal to the central unit; the central unit further comprising a head-end chassis, comprising; a housing; a plurality of module slots disposed in the housing, each module slot among the plurality of module slots configured to receive a connected module comprised of a RIM among the plurality of RIMs or an OIM among the plurality of OIMs; a backplane disposed in the housing, the backplane comprising; a plurality of backplane interconnects each associated with a module slot among the plurality of module slots, each backplane interconnect among the plurality of backplane interconnects configured to interconnect with the connected module inserted into the module slot associated with the backplane interconnect; each backplane interconnect among the plurality of backplane interconnects comprises;
a backplane downlink input configured to receive the electrical downlink communications signal from a RIM among the plurality of RIMs;
a backplane downlink output configured to provide an electrical split downlink communications signal to an OIM among the plurality of OIMs;
a backplane uplink input configured to receive an electrical uplink communications signal from the OIM;
a backplane uplink output configured to provide an electrical split uplink communications signal to the RIM;a downlink combiner comprising a plurality of combiner downlink inputs each corresponding to a backplane interconnect among the plurality of backplane interconnects, the plurality of combiner downlink inputs configured to receive a plurality of electrical downlink communications signals from the plurality of RIMs, combine the received plurality of electrical downlink communications signals into an electrical combined downlink communications signal, and provide the electrical combined downlink communications signal on a combiner downlink output; a downlink splitter comprising a splitter downlink input configured to receive the electrical combined downlink communications signal from the combiner downlink output, split the received electrical combined downlink communications signal into a plurality of electrical split downlink communications signals, and provide the plurality of electrical split downlink communications signals on a plurality of splitter downlink outputs each corresponding to a backplane interconnect among the plurality of backplane interconnects; an uplink combiner comprising a plurality of combiner uplink inputs each corresponding to a backplane interconnect among the plurality of backplane interconnects, the plurality of combiner uplink inputs configured to receive a plurality of electrical uplink communications signals from the plurality of OIMs, combine the received plurality of electrical uplink communications signals into an electrical combined uplink communications signal, and provide the electrical combined uplink communications signal on a combiner uplink output; an uplink splitter comprising a splitter uplink input configured to receive the electrical combined uplink communications signal from the combiner uplink output, split the received electrical combined uplink communications signal into a plurality of electrical split uplink communications signals, and provide the plurality of electrical split uplink communications signals on a plurality of splitter uplink outputs each corresponding to a backplane interconnect among the plurality of backplane interconnects; a plurality of downlink switches each configured to selectively couple, in response to a downlink switch selector, either the backplane downlink input of a backplane interconnect connected to a RIM, to a corresponding combiner downlink input among the plurality of combiner downlink inputs to provide the electrical downlink communications signal from the RIM to the downlink combiner;
or the backplane downlink output of the backplane interconnect connected to an OIM, to a corresponding splitter downlink output among the plurality of splitter downlink outputs to provide the electrical split downlink communications signal to the OIM; anda plurality of uplink switches each configured to selectively couple, in response to an uplink switch selector, either the backplane uplink output of a backplane interconnect connected to the RIM, to a corresponding splitter uplink output among the plurality of splitter uplink outputs to provide the electrical split uplink communications signal to the RIM;
or the backplane uplink input of the backplane interconnect connected to the OIM, to a corresponding combiner uplink input among the plurality of combiner uplink inputs to provide the electrical uplink communications signal from the OIM to the uplink combiner.
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Specification