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US 7,171,244 B2Granted
Communication system and method with gain control for signals from distributed antennas
AssigneeADC Telecommunications, Inc.
InventorDonald R. Bauman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A distributed antenna system is configured in a daisy-chain fashion along a single path. The summation of the signals received by each antenna port of the system is distributed along the path. The signal gain for the system is controlled by distributed attenuation and distributed gain control by using attenuators at port inputs, port outputs, or both.
Claims45
A communication system comprising:
- a plurality of distributed antenna ports each capable of receiving a communication signal having a signal level;
- a plurality of converters each coupled to one of the distributed antenna ports, wherein each converter digitizes the received signal;
- a communication medium coupling the plurality of distributed antenna ports;
- an attenuation function coupled to the plurality of antenna ports, the attenuation function capable of attenuating at least one signal level in response to attenuation instructions;
- and
- a gain control function coupled to the attenuation function, the gain control function generating the attenuation instructions in response to a sample of the at least one signal level.
3 more elements
A communication system comprising:
- a plurality of distributed antenna ports each capable of receiving a communication signal having a first signal level;
- a plurality of distributed summation functions, each summation function coupled to a distributed antenna port of the plurality of antenna ports and generating an aggregate signal, the plurality of distributed summation functions comprising a head end summation function that generates an aggregate signal having a second signal level;
- a communication medium coupling the plurality of summation functions;
- an attenuation function coupled to head end summation function, the attenuation function capable of attenuating the second signal level in response to attenuation instructions;
- and
- a gain control function coupled to the attenuation function, the gain control function generating the attenuation instructions in response to a sample of the second signal level.
3 more elements
A communication system comprising:
- a plurality of distributed antenna ports each capable of receiving a communication signal;
- a plurality of distributed summation functions, each summation function coupled to a distributed antenna port of the plurality of antenna ports and generating an aggregate signal, having an aggregate signal level, that represents a sum of the communication signal coupled to the summation function and any aggregate signal input to the summation function;
- a communication medium coupling the plurality of distributed summation functions;
- a plurality of distributed attenuation functions each coupled to a summation function such that the summation function's aggregate signal is attenuated in response to attenuation instructions;
- and
- a plurality of distributed gain control functions each coupled to a distributed attenuation function of the plurality of distributed attenuation functions, each distributed gain control function generating the attenuation instructions in response to a sample of the aggregate signal level.
3 more elements
A communication system comprising:
- a plurality of distributed antenna ports each capable of receiving a communication signal;
- a plurality of distributed summation functions, each summation function coupled to a distributed antenna port and generating an aggregate signal that represents a sum of the communication signal coupled to the summation function and any aggregate signal input to the summation function;
- a communication medium coupling the plurality of distributed summation functions;
- a plurality of first distributed attenuation functions each coupling an antenna port to its respective distributed summation function;
- a plurality of second distributed attenuation functions each coupling an aggregate signal to an input of a distributed summation function;
- and
- a plurality of distributed gain control functions each coupled to a first and a second distributed attenuation function, each distributed gain control function generating first attenuation instructions for the first distributed attenuation function in response to a sample of the communication signal and second attenuation instructions for the second distributed attenuation function in response to a sample of the aggregate signal.
4 more elements
A communication system comprising:
- a plurality of distributed antenna ports each capable of receiving a communication signal;
- a plurality of distributed summation functions, each distributed summation function coupled to a distributed antenna port and generating an aggregate signal that represents a sum of the communication signal coupled to the distributed summation function and any aggregate signal input to the distributed summation function, a final distributed summation function generating a final aggregate signal from a daisy-chain summation of the aggregate signals;
- a communication medium coupling the plurality of distributed summation functions;
- a plurality of distributed attenuation functions each coupling an antenna port to its respective distributed summation function;
- a plurality of distributed gain control functions each coupled to an attenuation function, each distributed gain control function generating attenuation instructions for the distributed attenuation function in response to a sample of the communication signal and a head end feedback signal;
- and
- a head end gain control function coupled to each of the plurality of distributed gain control functions and generating the head end feedback signal in response to a sample of the final aggregate signal.
4 more elements
A communication system comprising:
- a plurality of distributed antenna ports each capable of receiving a communication signal;
- a plurality of distributed summation functions, each distributed summation function coupled to a distributed antenna port and generating an aggregate signal that represents a sum of the communication signal coupled to the distributed summation function and any aggregate signal input to the distributed summation function;
- a communication medium coupling the plurality of distributed summation functions;
- a plurality of distributed attenuation functions each coupling an antenna port to its respective distributed summation function;
- and
- a plurality of distributed gain control functions each coupled to a distributed attenuation function, each distributed gain control function generating attenuation instructions for the distributed attenuation function in response to a sample of the communication signal and either a local attenuation signal based on the aggregate signal from its respective distributed summation function or a feedback attenuation signal from an upstream distributed gain control function.
3 more elements
A method for distributed gain control of a distributed antenna system having a plurality of antenna ports, the method comprising:
- summing a plurality of received signals in a distributed, daisy-chain fashion with any prior summed signals from a downstream antenna port of the plurality of antenna ports to generate a final aggregate signal;
- sampling a signal level of the final aggregate signal;
- and
- attenuating the final aggregate signal in response to the signal level.
1 more element
A method for distributed gain control of a distributed antenna system having a plurality of antenna ports, the method comprising:
- summing a plurality of received signals in a distributed, daisy-chain fashion with a prior summed signal from a downstream antenna port of the plurality of antenna ports to generate a plurality of aggregate signals;
- sampling a signal level of each of the plurality of aggregate signals;
- and
- attenuating each aggregate signal in response to its signal level.
1 more element
A method for distributed gain control of a distributed antenna system having a plurality of antenna ports, the method comprising:
- summing a plurality of received signals in a distributed, daisy-chain fashion with a prior summed signal from a downstream antenna port of the plurality of antenna ports to generate a plurality of aggregate signals;
- sampling a first signal level of each of the prior summed signals;
- sampling a second signal level of each of the received signals;
- and
- attenuating each prior summed signal and each received signal in response to the first and second signal levels.
2 more elements
A method for distributed gain control of a distributed antenna system having a plurality of antenna ports, the method comprising:
- summing a plurality of received signals in a distributed, daisy-chain fashion with a prior summed signal from a downstream antenna port of the plurality of antenna ports to generate a plurality of aggregate signals, one of the plurality of aggregate signals being a final aggregate signal;
- sampling a signal level of each received signal;
- sampling a signal level of the final aggregate signal to generate a feedback attenuation signal;
- and
- attenuating each received signal in response to its signal level and the feedback attenuation signal.
2 more elements
A method for distributed gain control of a distributed antenna system having a plurality of antenna ports, the method comprising:
- summing a plurality of received signals in a distributed, daisy-chain fashion with a prior summed signal from a downstream antenna port of the plurality of antenna ports to generate a plurality of aggregate signals;
- sampling a signal level of each received signal;
- sampling a signal level of each aggregate signal;
- generating a local attenuation signal in response to the signal level of each aggregate signal;
- and
- attenuating each received signal in response to the signal level of its received signal and either the local attenuation signal or a feedback attenuation signal from an upstream direction.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.