Cellular wireless internet access system using spread spectrum and internet protocol

• US RE45,757 E1
• Filed: 08/25/2006
• Issued: 10/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Original Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Inventors: Quayle, Roger Phillip, Jones, William John, Jones, Alan Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): Wendell, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): TRANDAI, CINDY HUYEN
• Application Number:
  US11/510,861
• Time in Patent Office: 3,336 Days
• Field of Search: 370/335, 370/216, 370/235, 370/231, 370/332, 370/479, 370/328, 455/561, 455/446, 455/137
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/083 using passwords cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using a predetermined code H04L9/3226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0853 using an additional device, e.g. smartcard, SIM or a different communication terminal cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving additional secure or trusted devices H04L9/3234
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/265 for initial activation of new user
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 370/908 Local area network
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 370/913 Wireless or radio

Abstract

A cellular wireless internet access system which operates in the 2.5 to 2.68 GHz band and which must comply with complex government regulations on power levels, subscriber equipment and interference levels yet which provides high data rates to users and cell sizes of 1½ miles radius or more from base stations with subscriber equipment and antennas mounted indoors. Such base stations are mounted low and use spread-spectrum transmission to comply with interference rules with respect to adjacent license areas. An unidirectional tear-drop coverage pattern is used at multiple cells to further reduce interference when required. Time division duplex is used to allow the system to operate on any single channel of varying bandwidth within the 2.5 to 2.68 GHz band. Backhaul transmission from base stations to the Internet is provided using base station radio equipment, operating either on a different frequency in the band or on the same frequency using a time-division peer-to-peer technique. Different effective data-rates are provided by a prioritization tiering technique.

Claims

1. A cellular wireless internet access system comprising:

a plurality of portable subscriber terminals each having a directly attached antenna for communicating in a predetermined frequency band with a predetermined nearby cellular base station;

a plurality of cellular base stations each transmitting and receiving in said predetermined frequency band at a single frequency with a predetermined said plurality of said subscriber terminals; and

means for operating said base station on a small frequency allocation obtainable anywhere within the designated frequency band using a single frequency channel of varying bandwidth between 6 and 24 MHz using different spread spectrum transmission chip rates; and

means for operating said base station in a time-division-duplex mode to enable said transmitting and receiving at said single frequency channel thus avoiding the need for separate channels spaced apart for transmit and receive and including means for allocating the ratio of time for transmitting and receiving on a predetermined basis said time division as a function of expected traffic demand;

means for providing high net data rates of 1.5-3.0 Mbps using a plurality of data bearer subchannels on said single frequency channel, orthogonal downlink spreading codes for CDMA transmission, and successive interference cancellation or simultaneous uplink spreading codes.

2. A system as in claim 1 where each band is divided in the time domain into frames and each frame has a predetermined number of time slots allocated to control, uplink, and downlink communications between said cellular base stations and subscriber terminals.

3. A system as in claim 2 where some of said frames are dedicated to backhaul communication between base stations on a peer-to-peer basis.

4. A system as in claim 2 where the data transmission rate is increased during time domain frames used for backhaul communication by switching to directional antennas during these timeslots thus providing an improved radio channel quality to support such increased data rate.

5. A system as in claim 1 where said means for using different transmission chip rates provides net data rates of 1.5-3.0 Mbps on said small frequency allocation.

6. A cellular wireless base station, comprising:

a transmitter and a receiver for communicating with at least one portable subscriber terminal; and

a processor for providing a baseband signal, the baseband signal comprising a plurality of data bearing sub channels and representing a wireless RF signal for transmission by the transmitter in a time-division mode on a single frequency channel, the processor further comprising a bandwidth selector configured to select a radio bandwidth of the single frequency channel, based upon an integer multiple of a first bandwidth, wherein the radio bandwidth selected has a width of the first bandwidth or an integer multiple of the first bandwidth;

wherein;

the processor is further operable to inverse multiplex the baseband signal into multiple downlink data bearing signals, and

the transmitter is operable to transmit the multiple downlink data bearing signals simultaneously on the single frequency channel in the time-division mode at individual data rates that combine to an aggregate data rate.

7. The base station of claim 6, wherein the first bandwidth is no greater than about 6 MHz.

8. The base station of claim 7, wherein the radio bandwidth is selectable from a group consisting of 6, 12, 18 and 24 MHz.

9. The base station of claim 8, wherein the baseband signal has a net data rate in a range of 1.5-6.0 Mbps.

10. The base station of claim 6, wherein the transmitted signal conforms to the UMTS standard and the single frequency channel is a microwave frequency.

11. The base station of claim 6, wherein the receiver is operable to apply interference cancellation to uplink data bearing signals received by the receiver.

12. The base station of claim 6, wherein the base station resides in a first service area adjoining a second service area, and, at a predefined boundary between the first service area and second service area, an aggregate signal level on the frequency channel transmitted from the first service area is below a predetermined threshold.

13. The base station of claim 12, wherein the predetermined threshold is −

65 dB relative to a level of a signal that is transmitted by a base station in the second service area within the frequency channel and measured 35 miles from the base station in the second service area.

14. The base station of claim 6, wherein the base station resides in a first service area adjoining a second service area, and an aggregate signal level transmitted from the first service area relative to a signal transmitted on an adjacent channel in the first or second service area is below a predetermined threshold.

15. The base station of claim 14, wherein the predetermined threshold is 0 dB.

16. The method of claim 6, wherein the bandwidth selector is configured to select the radio bandwidth of the single frequency channel for the communicating with the at least one subscriber terminal via both the transmitter and the receiver.

17. A method for communicating over a cellular wireless network, the method comprising, at a base station:

selecting a radio bandwidth of a single frequency channel based upon an integer multiple of a first bandwidth, wherein the radio bandwidth selected has a width of the first bandwidth or has a width that is an aggregation of multiples of the width; and

communicating on the single frequency channel with at least one portable subscriber terminal using a signal comprising a plurality of data bearing sub channels in a time-division mode, wherein the communicating comprises;

inverse multiplexing the signal into multiple downlink data bearing signals; and

transmitting the multiple downlink data bearing signals simultaneously in the sub channels at individual data rates that combine to an aggregate data rate.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first bandwidth is no greater than about 6 MHz.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the radio bandwidth is selectable from a group consisting of 6, 12, 18 and 24 MHz.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the signal has a net data rate in a range of 1.5-6.0 Mbps.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the signal conforms to the UMTS standard.

22. The method of claim 17, further comprising applying interference cancellation to uplink data bearing signals received by the receiver.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein the base station resides in a first service area adjoining a second service area, and, at a predefined boundary between the first service area and the second service area, an aggregate signal level on the frequency channel transmitted from the first service area is below a predetermined threshold.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the predetermined threshold is −

65 dB relative to a level of a signal that is transmitted by a base station in the second service area within the frequency channel and measured 35 miles from the base station in the second service area.

25. The method of claim 17, wherein the base station resides in a first service area adjoining a second service area, and an aggregate signal level transmitted from the first service area relative to a signal transmitted on an adjacent channel in the first or second service area is below a predetermined threshold.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the predetermined threshold is 0 dB.

27. A portable user equipment (UE), comprising:

a transmitter and a receiver for communicating with at least one base station; and

a processor for receiving a baseband signal, the baseband signal comprising at least one data bearing sub channel and representing a wireless RF signal for transmission by the transmitter in a time-division mode on a single frequency channel, the processor further comprising a bandwidth selector configured to select a radio bandwidth of the single frequency channel based upon an integer multiple of a first bandwidth, wherein the radio bandwidth selected has a width of the first bandwidth or an integer multiple of the first bandwidth and wherein the processor is further operable to inverse multiplex the baseband signal into at least one uplink data bearing signal, and the transmitter is operable to transmit the at least one uplink data bearing signal simultaneously on the single frequency channel in the time-division mode using at least one data rate that combine to an aggregate data rate.

28. The UE of claim 27, wherein the first bandwidth is no greater than about 6 MHz.

29. The UE of claim 28, wherein the radio bandwidth is selectable from a group consisting of 6, 12, 18 and 24 MHz.

30. The UE of claim 29, wherein the baseband signal has a net data rate in a range of 1.5-6.0 Mbps.

31. The UE of claim 27, wherein the transmitted signal conforms to the UMTS standard.

32. A method for communicating over a cellular wireless network, the method comprising, at a portable user equipment (UE):

determining a selected radio bandwidth of a single frequency channel based upon an integer multiple of a first bandwidth, wherein the radio bandwidth selected has a width of the first bandwidth or an integer multiple of the first bandwidth; and

communicating on the single frequency channel with at least one base station using a signal comprising at least one data bearing sub channel in a time-division mode, wherein the communicating comprises;

inverse multiplexing the signal into multiple downlink data bearing signals; and

transmitting the multiple downlink data bearing signals simultaneously in the sub channels at individual data rates that combine to an aggregate data rate.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the first bandwidth is no greater than about 6 MHz.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the selected radio bandwidth is selectable from a group consisting of 6, 12, 18 and 24 MHz.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the signal has a net data rate in a range of 1.5-6.0 Mbps.

36. The method of claim 32, wherein the signal conforms to the UMTS standard.