Mobile communication system and method of estimating location of mobile station

A mobile communication system comprising a master unit configured to receive a signal from a base station and deliver a plurality of signals, and a plurality of slave units spaced from each other in a predetermined area and configured to receive the respective signals delivered from the master unit, radio-transmit the signals to a mobile station, and radio-receive signals from the mobile station, the mobile communication system comprising:

• attenuating means for attenuating each of the signals delivered in the master unit, by a combination of attenuation factors set for the respective slave units and transmitting the attenuated signals to the respective slave units;
• attenuation factor changing means for changing the combination of attenuation factors on the basis of a predetermined rule;
• power acquiring means for acquiring information about a power of a resultant signal of signals received from the plurality of slave units by the mobile station under each combination of attenuation factors thus changed, said information being transmitted from said mobile station;
• and
• mobile station location estimating means for estimating a location of the mobile station on the basis of change of the information about the power occurring with change in the combination of attenuation factors.

A method of estimating a location of a mobile station in a mobile communication system comprising a plurality of slave units spaced from each other in a predetermined area and configured to radio-receive respective signals from the mobile station, and a master unit configured to combine the signals received by the respective slave units, into a resultant signal and transmit the resultant signal to a base station, the method comprising:

• an attenuating step of attenuating each of the signals from the slave units by a combination of attenuation factors set for the respective slave units and allowing the attenuated signals to be combined into the resultant signal;
• an attenuation factor changing step of changing the combination of attenuation factors on the basis of a predetermined rule;
• a power measuring step of measuring information about a power of the resultant signal under each combination of attenuation factors thus changed;
• and
• a mobile station location estimating step of estimating a location of the mobile station on the basis of change of the information about the power occurring with change in the combination of attenuation factors.

A method of estimating a location of a mobile station in a mobile communication system comprising a master unit configured to receive a signal from a base station and deliver a plurality of signals, and a plurality of slave units spaced from each other in a predetermined area and configured to receive the respective signals delivered from the master unit, radio-transmit the signals to a mobile station, and radio-receive signals from the mobile station, the method comprising:

• an attenuating step of attenuating each of the signals delivered in the master unit, by a combination of attenuation factors set for the respective slave units and transmitting the attenuated signals to the respective slave units;
• an attenuation factor changing step of changing the combination of attenuation factors on the basis of a predetermined rule;
• a power acquiring step of acquiring information about a power of a resultant signal of signals received from the plurality of slave units by the mobile station under each combination of attenuation factors thus changed, said information being transmitted from said mobile station;
• and
• a mobile station location estimating step of estimating a location of the mobile station on the basis of change of the information about the power occurring with change in the combination of attenuation factors.