Extracting sub-bands from signals in a frequency domain

A unit comprising:

• a first interface section configured to receive a downlink signal from a base station;
• a signal processing section configured to sub-divide the downlink signal into a sub-divided downlink signal having a plurality of downlink signal components in a time domain, wherein each of the plurality of downlink signal components corresponds to a respective sub-band;
• a processor communicatively coupled to the first interface section and configured:
• determine that at least one component of the plurality of downlink signal components corresponds to at least one sub-band having data to be transmitted via a distributed antenna system;
• generate, subsequent to determining that the at least one component from the sub-divided downlink signal corresponds to the at least one sub-band, a transformed downlink signal by performing a frequency transform on the downlink signal, wherein the transformed downlink signal represents the downlink signal in a frequency domain,
• determine that the at least one sub-band of the transformed downlink signal includes the data to be transmitted, and
• extract the at least one sub-band from the transformed downlink signal;
• and
• a second interface section configured to provide the at least one sub-band extracted from the transformed downlink signal to at least one remote antenna unit of the distributed antenna system remote from the unit;
• wherein the processor is configured to extract the at least one sub-band from the transformed downlink signal by performing operations comprising:
• identifying at least one bin of the transformed downlink signal in the frequency domain that corresponds to the at least one sub-band,
• providing data for the at least one bin to the at least one remote antenna unit of the distributed antenna system,
• identifying at least one additional bin of the transformed downlink signal in the frequency domain that corresponds to at least one additional sub-band that lacks data to be transmitted, and
• discarding additional data for the at least one additional bin.

A distributed antenna system comprising:

• a unit configured to:
• receive a downlink signal,
• sub-divide the downlink signal into a sub-divided downlink signal having a plurality of downlink signal components in a time domain, wherein each of the plurality of downlink signal components corresponds to a respective sub-band,
• determine that at least one component of the plurality of downlink signal components corresponds to at least one sub-band having data to be transmitted via the distributed antenna system,
• generate, subsequent to determining that the at least one component from the sub-divided downlink signal corresponds to the at least one sub-band, a transformed downlink signal by performing a frequency transform on the downlink signal, wherein the transformed downlink signal represents the downlink signal in a frequency domain,
• determine that the at least one sub-band of the transformed downlink signal includes the data to be transmitted,
• extract the at least one sub-band from the transformed downlink signal, and
• provide the at least one sub-band extracted from the transformed downlink signal to at least one remote antenna unit;
• and
• the at least one remote antenna unit configured to:
• receive, from the unit, the at least one sub-band extracted from the transformed downlink signal,
• generate a wireless RF signal based on the at least one sub-band, and
• transmit the wireless RF signal to a terminal device;
• wherein the unit is configured to extract the at least one sub-band from the transformed downlink signal by performing operations comprising:
• identifying at least one bin of the transformed downlink signal in the frequency domain that corresponds to the at least one sub-band,
• providing data for the at least one bin to the at least one remote antenna unit,
• identifying at least one additional bin of the transformed downlink signal in the frequency domain that corresponds to at least one additional sub-band that lacks data to be transmitted, and
• discarding additional data for the at least one additional bin.