Cellular communications system with sectorization
First Claim
1. A method of sectorizing coverage over a cellular communications area divided into a plurality of microcells each covering a subarea of the communications area and being divided into a plurality of angular sectors having separate transmitters and receivers, the method comprising performing the following steps:
- receiving a number of information-bearing telephone signals from a mobile telecommunications switching office at a common base station serving the microcells within the cellular communications area;
modulating the information-bearing telephone signals onto a plurality of different analog radio-frequency carriers representing a plurality of different channel sets for respective sectors of the microcells at the base station;
combining the analog radio-frequency signals for all of the sectors into a single outbound analog signal within a predetermined radio-frequency band, representing all of the channel sets for all of the sectors;
converting the signal outbound analog signal directly to a single outbound digital representation at the base station;
sending the outbound digital representation of the radio-frequency signal via a transmission means to a remote unit located in or near the subarea of at least one microcell;
at the remote unit, converting the outbound digital representation directly to a single analog representation of the entire outbound signal radio-frequency signal within the same radio-frequency band and containing each of the plurality of channel sets;
sending each of the plurality of channel sets to a different one of a plurality of antenna units for the microcell, each of the antenna units being positioned so as to cover a different angular sector of the microcell;
at the antenna unit covering each sector of the microcell, receiving telephone signals within the radio-frequency band for the channel set of that sector;
sending the received telephone signals to the remote unit;
at the remote unit, combining all the received telephone signals from all the sectors to a single combined analog radio-frequency received signal containing all the channel sets for the microcell;
converting the signal combined radio-frequency received signal directly to a received digital representation of the radio-frequency band of the channel sets for the sectors;
sending the received digital representation via the transmission means to the base station; and
at the centrally located base station, converting the received digital representation directly to a received analog representation;
demodulating the received analog representation to recover the individual inbound telephone signals.
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Reexamination
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for sectorizing coverage of a cellular communications area includes providing a remote unit having microcell antenna units. Each microcell antenna unit is configured to cover a particular sector. The remote unit is connected to a sectorized base station unit which is connected to a mobile telecommunications switching office. Separate digitized streams representative of telephone signals received from the mobile telecommunications switching office are generated corresponding to the microcell antenna units and the separate digitized streams are multiplexed and transmitted to the remote unit. The remote unit demultiplexes the multiplexed digitized streams into the separate digitized streams corresponding to the microcell antenna units and the separate digitized streams are converted to RF signals for coverage of a particular sector by the corresponding microcell antenna unit. Separate digitized streams are separately generated for each microcell antenna unit representative of RF signals received at the microcell antenna unit for a particular sector. The separately generated digitized streams are multiplexed at the remote unit and transmitted to the sectorized base station unit. At the sectorized base station unit, the multiplexed digitized streams are demultiplexed into the separate digitized streams corresponding to microcell antenna units and the separate digitized streams are converted to RF signals for provision to the mobile telecommunications switching office. Diversity at the remote units is also provided.
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Citations
70 Claims
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1. A method of sectorizing coverage over a cellular communications area divided into a plurality of microcells each covering a subarea of the communications area and being divided into a plurality of angular sectors having separate transmitters and receivers, the method comprising performing the following steps:
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receiving a number of information-bearing telephone signals from a mobile telecommunications switching office at a common base station serving the microcells within the cellular communications area;
modulating the information-bearing telephone signals onto a plurality of different analog radio-frequency carriers representing a plurality of different channel sets for respective sectors of the microcells at the base station;
combining the analog radio-frequency signals for all of the sectors into a single outbound analog signal within a predetermined radio-frequency band, representing all of the channel sets for all of the sectors;
converting the signal outbound analog signal directly to a single outbound digital representation at the base station;
sending the outbound digital representation of the radio-frequency signal via a transmission means to a remote unit located in or near the subarea of at least one microcell;
at the remote unit, converting the outbound digital representation directly to a single analog representation of the entire outbound signal radio-frequency signal within the same radio-frequency band and containing each of the plurality of channel sets;
sending each of the plurality of channel sets to a different one of a plurality of antenna units for the microcell, each of the antenna units being positioned so as to cover a different angular sector of the microcell;
at the antenna unit covering each sector of the microcell, receiving telephone signals within the radio-frequency band for the channel set of that sector;
sending the received telephone signals to the remote unit;
at the remote unit, combining all the received telephone signals from all the sectors to a single combined analog radio-frequency received signal containing all the channel sets for the microcell;
converting the signal combined radio-frequency received signal directly to a received digital representation of the radio-frequency band of the channel sets for the sectors;
sending the received digital representation via the transmission means to the base station; and
at the centrally located base station, converting the received digital representation directly to a received analog representation;
demodulating the received analog representation to recover the individual inbound telephone signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. The method of sectorizing coverage over a cellular communications area divided into a plurality of microcells each covering a subarea of the communications area, and each divided into a plurality of sectors, the method comprising performing the following steps for each microcell:
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receiving a number of information-bearing telephone signals from a mobile telecommunications switching office at a common base station serving the microcells within the cellular communications area;
generating from the information-bearing telephone signal one of a plurality of different channel sets of signals for each sector of that microcell at the base station;
combining the plurality of different channel sets into a single analog signal in a predetermined radio-frequency band;
converting the single analog signal directly to a single digital representation;
sending the digital representation via a transmission means to a remote unit located in or near the subarea;
at the remote unit, converting the digital representation directly to an analog representation of the radio-frequency signal for all channel sets within the same predetermined radio-frequency band; and
sending the radio-frequency signal for each of the plurality of channel sets to a different one of a plurality of antenna units, each of the antenna units being positioned so as to cover a different angular sector of that microcell. - View Dependent Claims (6)
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7. A method of sectorizing coverage over a cellular communications area divided into a plurality of microcells each covering a subarea of the communications area, each microcell being divided into a plurality of sectors, the method comprising:
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at a plurality of antenna units each covering a different sector of a microcell, receiving analog telephone signals within a predetermined radio-frequency band for a channel set assigned to that sector;
sending all the analog telephone signals to a remote unit serving the sectors of the microcell, the remote unit being located in or near the subarea of the microcell;
at the remote unit for the microcell, combining all the analog telephone signals from all sectors of the microcell into a single analog signal within the same radio-frequency band as the channel sets for the sectors of the microcell;
converting the single combined analog signal directly as a whole to a received digital representation;
sending the received digital representation via the transmission means to a common base station serving the microcells of the communications area;
at the base station, converting the received digital representation to an inbound analog signal within the radio-frequency band;
demodulating the inbound analog signal to recover a plurality of information-bearing signals representing received analog telephone signals; and
sensing the information-bearing signals to a mobile telecommunications switching office. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9)
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10. A method of transmitting an RF signal between a base station and at least one remote unit that wirelessly communicates with at least one wireless unit, the method comprising:
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generating a digitized representation of the RF signal at the base station, wherein the RF signal is a combined analog signal representing a plurality of outbound wireless transmissions for a set of channels; and
transmitting the digitized representation to the remote unit. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of transmitting wireless transmissions between a base station and a remote unit that wirelessly communicates with at least one wireless unit, the method comprising:
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generating a set of RF analog modulated channel carriers representing outbound transmissions, wherein each RF analog modulated channel carrier corresponds, in a one-to-one relationship, to a channel in a set of channels used by the remote unit;
combining the set of RF analog modulated channel carriers into a combined RF signal;
generating a digitized representation of the combined RF signal to the base station; and
transmitting the digitized representation to the remote unit. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. A method of transmitting RF signals between a base station and a remote unit that wirelessly communicates with at least one wireless unit, the method comprising:
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receiving a plurality of outbound input signals from a network, wherein the plurality of outbound input signals correspond to a set of channels used by the remote unit;
generating an RF analog outbound channel carrier for each channel in the set of channels used by the remote unit;
analog modulating each of the plurality of outbound input signals onto a corresponding one of the RF analog outbound channel carriers, thereby generating a plurality of RF analog modulated channel carriers;
combining the plurality of RF analog modulated channel carriers into a combined RF signal;
generating a digitized representation of the combined RF signal at the base station; and
transmitting the digitized representation to the remote unit.
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19. A method of transmitting RF signals between a remote unit and a base station, the method comprising:
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receiving at the remote unit an inbound combined RF signal comprising a plurality of inbound RF signals from a plurality of mobile units;
generating a digitized representation of the combined RF signal at the remote unit; and
transmitting the digitized representation to the base station.
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20. A method of transmitting RF signals between a remote unit and a base station, the method comprising:
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receiving at the remote unit a combined RF signal comprising a plurality of simultaneous inbound RF signals in a set of channels from a plurality of mobile units;
digitizing the combined RF signal; and
transmitting the digitized combined RF signal to the base station.
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21. A method of transmitting cellular telephone transmissions between a base station and a mobile unit, the method comprising:
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generating a digitized representation of a first RF signal at the base station, wherein the first RF signal is a combined analog signal representing all outbound cellular telephone transmissions for a set of channels used by a cell remote from the base station;
transmitting the digitized representation to the cell;
generating a second RF signal from the digitized representation of the first RF signal at the cell; and
broadcasting the second RF signal to the mobile unit.
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22. A method of transmitting RF signals between a base station and a plurality of mobile units, the method comprising:
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generating a set of RF analog modulated channel carriers representing outbound RF signals, wherein each RF analog modulated channel carrier corresponds, in a one-to-one relationship, to a channel in a set of channels used by a remote unit;
combining the set of RF analog modulated channel carriers into a first combined RF signal, wherein the first combined RF signal represents outbound RF signals;
generating a digitized representation of the first combined RF signal at the base station;
transmitting the digitized representation to the remote unit;
generating a second RF signal from the digitized representation of the first RF signal at the remote unit; and
broadcasting the second RF signal to the plurality of mobile units.
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23. A method of transmitting RF signals between a base station and a plurality of mobile units, the method comprising:
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receiving a plurality of outbound input signals from a network, wherein the plurality of outbound input signals correspond to a set of channels used by a remote unit;
generating an RF analog outbound channel carrier for each channel in the set of channels used by the remote unit;
analog modulating each of the plurality of outbound input signals onto a corresponding one of the RF analog outbound channel carriers, thereby generating a plurality of RF analog modulated channel carriers;
combining the plurality of RF analog modulated channel carriers into a first combined RF signal;
generating a digitized representation of the first combined RF signal at the base station;
transmitting the digitized representation to the remote unit;
generating a second combined RF signal from the digitized representation of the first combined RF signal at the remote unit; and
broadcasting the second combined RF signal from the remote unit to the plurality of mobile units.
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24. A first communication device for communicating with a second communication device in a wireless communications system over a communication medium, the first communication device comprising:
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a digital unit that outputs a digital representation of an analog signal, the analog signal comprising a single signal that includes a plurality of RF channels, the plurality of RF channels including at least one of information being transmitted to a plurality of remote wireless communication units and information being transmitted from the plurality of remote wireless communication units;
wherein the first communication device transmits a transmission signal over the communication medium to the second communication device;
wherein the transmission signal includes the digital representation; and
wherein the second communication device is physically remote from the first device. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. In a wireless communication system, a method of transmitting communications between a first communication device and a second communication device, the first communication device comprising an antenna unit associated with a cell, the second communication device remotely located from the first communication device, the method comprising:
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receiving at the second communication device a composite analog signal that as a single composite signal includes a plurality of RF channels;
digitizing the composition analog signal into a digitized signal representing the plurality of RF channels;
transmitting the digitized signal over a communication medium from the second communication device to the first communication device. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
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51. In a wireless communication system, a method of transmitting communications between a first communication device and a second communication device, the first communication device comprising an antenna unit associated with a cell, the second communication device remotely located from the first communication device, the method comprising:
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receiving at the first communication device a composite analog signal that as a single composite signal includes a plurality of RF channels;
digitizing the composite analog signal into a digitized signal representing the plurality of RF channels;
transmitting the digitized signal over a communication medium from the first communication device to the second communication device. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63)
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64. A wireless communications system in communication with an antenna that receives wireless radio frequency signals from wireless units over a plurality of channels within a frequency band, wherein the antenna outputs an analog radio frequency signal including the frequency band, the system comprising:
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a first unit in communication with a second unit using at least one communication medium, the first unit including;
a broadband digitizer unit, in communication with the antenna, that outputs a digitized stream that includes a digitized representation of the frequency band of the analog radio frequency signal, wherein the frequency band includes the plurality of channels; and
wherein the digitizer unit applies a transmission signal to the at least one communication medium for transmission to the second unit, wherein the transmission signal is at least in part derived from the digitized stream; and
wherein the second unit includes a digital unit that receives the transmission signal from the communication medium and generates a reconstructed analog radio frequency signal including the frequency band, the reconstructed analog radio frequency signal being derived from the transmission signal received by the second digital unit. - View Dependent Claims (65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70)
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Specification