Repeater and methods for use therewith

• US 10,142,086 B2
• Filed: 06/10/2016
• Issued: 11/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bennett, Robert, Henry, Paul Shala, Gerszberg, Irwin, Barzegar, Farhad, Barnickel, Donald J, Willis, III, Thomas M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Yeung, Mang Hang
• Application Number:
  US15/179,224
• Publication Number:
  US 20160365966A1
• Time in Patent Office: 900 Days
• Field of Search: 370278
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 3/36 Repeater circuits H04B3/58 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/04 using two or more spaced independent antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0023 Time-frequency-space
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/1438 Negotiation of transmission parameters prior to communication modified according to link quality H04L1/0001
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/1461 Suppression of signals in the return path, i.e. bidirectional control circuits

Abstract

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a repeater device having a first coupler to extract downstream channel signals from first guided electromagnetic waves bound to a transmission medium of a guided wave communication system. An amplifier amplifies the downstream channel signals to generate amplified downstream channel signals. A channel selection filter selects one or more of the amplified downstream channel signals to wirelessly transmit to the at least one client device via an antenna. A second coupler guides the amplified downstream channel signals to the transmission medium of the guided wave communication system to propagate as second guided electromagnetic waves. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A repeater device, comprising:

an amplifier configured to amplify first channel signals and a reference signal to generate amplified first channel signals and an amplified reference signal, wherein the first channel signals and reference signal are extracted from a distributed antenna system;

a first transceiver configured to select one or more of the amplified first channel signals via channel selection filtration and to convert the one or more of the amplified first channel signals to a spectral segment for wireless transmission to at least one device via a first antenna of the distributed antenna system based on the amplified reference signal, wherein the amplified reference signal reduces a phase error in converting the one or more of the amplified first channel signals to the spectral segment;

a second transceiver; and

a duplexer configured to transfer at least a portion of the amplified first channel signals to the second transceiver for transmission to an other repeater device of the distributed antenna system having a second antenna and further to transfer the first channel signals to the first transceiver.

2. The repeater device of claim 1, wherein the amplifier further generates an amplified control channel from a control channel associated with the first channel signals and wherein the channel selection filtration operates based on instructions in the control channel to dynamically select the one or more of the amplified first channel signals.

3. The repeater device of claim 2, wherein the reference signal is transmitted at an out of band frequency relative to the control channel.

4. The repeater device of claim 2, wherein the reference signal is transmitted at an in band frequency relative to the control channel.

5. The repeater device of claim 2, wherein the control channel is transmitted via ultra-wideband signaling.

6. The repeater device of claim 1, wherein the amplifier further extracts a clock signal associated with the first channel signals from the distributed antenna system and wherein the clock signal synchronizes a digital signal processing by the first transceiver in converting the one or more of the amplified first channel signals to the spectral segment.

7. The repeater device of claim 1, wherein the first transceiver is further configured to wirelessly receive second channel signals from the at least one device via the first antenna;

wherein the duplexer is further configured to transfer the second channel signals to the amplifier;

wherein the amplifier is further configured to amplify the second channel signals to generate amplified second channel signals; and

wherein the amplified second channel signals are transmitted via a third transceiver to a source node of the distributed antenna system.

8. The repeater device of claim 7, wherein the first channel signals correspond to a number of first frequency channels and the second channel signals correspond to a number of second frequency channels that is less than the number of the first frequency channels.

9. The repeater device of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the first channel signals is formatted in accordance with a data over cable system interface specification (DOCSIS) protocol, a 802.11 protocol or a fifth generation (5G) mobile wireless protocol.

10. The repeater device of claim 1, wherein the duplexer operates via analog signal processing.

11. A method for use in a repeater, the method comprising:

amplifying first channel signals and a reference signal to generate amplified first channel signals and an amplified reference signal, wherein the first channel signals and the reference signal are extracted from a distributed antenna system;

selecting one or more of the amplified first channel signals for wireless transmission to at least one device via a first antenna of the distributed antenna system;

converting the amplified first channel signals to a spectral segment for wireless transmission to the at least one device via the first antenna of the distributed antenna system based on the amplified reference signal, wherein the amplified reference signal reduces a phase error in converting the amplified first channel signals to the spectral segment; and

transferring at least a portion of the amplified first channel signals to the distributed antenna system for use by an other repeater of the distributed antenna system having a second antenna.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising processing an amplified control channel associated with the first channel signals to receive instructions;

wherein the one or more of the amplified first channel signals are dynamically selected based on the instructions from the amplified control channel.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the reference signal is transmitted at an out of band frequency relative to the amplified control channel.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the reference signal is transmitted at an in band frequency relative to the amplified control channel.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the amplified control channel is transmitted via ultra-wideband signaling.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising wirelessly receiving second channel signals from the at least one device via the first antenna;

and

amplifying the second channel signals to generate amplified second channel signals;

wherein the amplified second channel signals are transmitted to a source node via the distributed antenna system.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first channel signals correspond to a number of first frequency channels and the second channel signals correspond to a number of second frequency channels that is less than the number of the first frequency channels.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the one or more of the amplified first channel signals correspond to a number of first frequency channels and the second channel signals correspond to a number of second frequency channels that is equal to the number of the first frequency channels.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein at least a portion of the first channel signals is formatted in accordance with a data over cable system interface specification (DOCSIS) protocol, a 802.11 protocol or a fifth generation (5G) mobile wireless protocol.

20. A repeater device, comprising:

an amplifier configured to amplify channel signals and a reference signal to generate amplified channel signals and an amplified reference signal, wherein the channel signals and reference signal are extracted from a distributed antenna system;

a first transceiver configured to select one or more of the amplified channel signals via channel selection filtration and to convert the one or more of the amplified channel signals to a spectral segment for wireless transmission to at least one device via a first antenna of the distributed antenna system based on the amplified reference signal, wherein the amplified reference signal reduces a phase error in converting the one or more of the amplified channel signals to the spectral segment;

a second transceiver; and

a duplexer configured to transfer at least a portion of the amplified channel signals to the second transceiver for transmission to an other repeater device of the distributed antenna system having a second antenna and further to transfer the channel signals to the first transceiver;

wherein the distributed antenna system includes a source node and a plurality of repeater devices including the repeater device and the other repeater device for wireless access over a coverage area of the distributed antenna system, and

wherein the distributed antenna system operates in a non-cellular frequency band.