Channelized apparatus for equalizing carrier powers of multicarrier signal

A method for processing a multi-carrier input signal, comprising the steps of:

• splitting said multi-carrier input signal into a plurality of electrical paths;
• down-converting said multi-carrier input signal in each said electrical path by mixing said multi-carrier input signal in each said path with a local oscillating signal from an independently tunable frequency synthesizer, to thereby produce a multi-carrier intermediate frequency (IF) signal in each said path;
• filtering the multi-carrier IF signal in each said path to isolate in each path a predetermined IF carrier thereof;
• controlling power level of each said predetermined IF carrier in each said path to within a predefined power level range, wherein a plurality of equalized carriers are produced;
• combining signal energy associated with said plurality of equalized carriers to form a multi-carrier output signal;
• and,
• automatically controlling the frequency of each said local oscillating signal in accordance with a control channel signal containing information indicative of carrier frequencies of said multi-carrier input signal.

A receiving system for use in a wireless communications system, comprising:

• an antenna for receiving a plurality of modulated radio frequency (RF) signals each having a signal bandwidth occupying a specific frequency channel, said antenna combining said plurality of signals to form a multi-carrier input signal;
• a power splitter connected to receive said multi-carrier input signal, for splitting said input signal into a plurality of electrical paths;
• a plurality of signal modifiers, with each one of said signal modifiers connected in one of said electrical paths and operable to isolate signal energy associated with a given one of said modulated RF signals and to control said isolated signal energy to within a predetermined power level range, wherein a plurality of equalized signal modifier output signals are provided;
• a power combiner for combining said plurality of signal modifier output signals to provide a multi-carrier output signal with each carrier of said multi-carrier output signal being within a predefined power level range;
• and
• an analog to digital (A/D) converter for digitizing said multi-carrier output signal;
• wherein said antenna also receives a control signal in a control channel containing information indicative of frequency channel association with said RF signals, and wherein said receiving system further includes:
• a plurality of tunable frequency synthesizers, with each said frequency synthesizer within one of said signal modifiers and providing a local oscillating signal of a tunable frequency to mix with said multi-carrier input signal within said signal modifier, thereby providing a multi-carrier intermediate frequency (IF) signal;
• a synthesizer tuning block coupled to each said tunable frequency synthesizer and connected to receive said control signal, for independently controlling the frequencies of said local oscillating signals in accordance with the information in said control signal.