System and method for retransmission of data
View Patent ↗A received RF signal can include data information intended for transmission over a wireless communication link. The data information of the signal can be processed at a node to produce overhead bits supporting a serial transmission of the data information over a communication medium to another node. For example, the data information of the received signal and overhead bits can be combined or framed according to a serial transport protocol for transmission over the communication medium. This technique of mapping or framing the data information into a serial transport protocol is used to more efficiently transmit the data over the communication medium to a target receiver, where the original RF signal can be reconstructed.
1. A method comprising:
receiving data information representing a digitized version of a radio frequency signal comprising at least one radio frequency channel to be transmitted over a wireless link; and
combining the data information and overhead bits generated from the data information, wherein the data information and the overhead bits are combined according to a transport protocol for transmission of the data information and overhead bits in a serial stream over a transport communication medium.
2. A method as in claim 1 further comprising:
recognizing that the serial stream will be re-transmitted at a following node according to a selected transport protocol; and
transmitting at least a portion of the overhead bits in an allocated register of the transport protocol that will be overwritten when at least a portion of the serial stream is re-transmitted from the following node.
3. A method as in claim 2 further comprising:
upon receipt of the re-transmitted serial stream according to the selected protocol, processing the serial stream to reproduce the radio frequency signal as originally received.
4. A method as in claim 1 further comprising:
receiving the serial transmission over the transport communication medium; and
re-transmitting the received serial transmission according to a SONET (Synchronous Optical Network) protocol.
5. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the transport communication medium is a fiber optic link and the data is intended for transmission over an RF (Radio Frequency) antenna device to a mobile cellular phone user.
6. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the overhead bits include time stamps.
7. A method as in claim 6 , wherein the time stamps are used for location services.
8. A method as in claim 6 , wherein the time stamps are used to determine a path delay.
9. A method as in claim 1 further comprising:
converting the digitized version of the radio frequency signal for transmission over the transport communication medium;
transmitting the serial stream including data of the digitized RF signal over the transport communication medium according to a SONET (Synchronous Optical Network) protocol; and
reconstructing the radio frequency signal based on receipt of the serial stream over the transport communication medium.
10. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the overhead bits include parity information to identify a quality of the serial stream.
11. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the transport protocol is a quasi-SONET protocol that supports transmission of a serial stream of data.
12. A method as in claim 1 further comprising:
generating overhead information that is included in the transport protocol for reconstructing an originally received signal.
13. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the data information comprises information transmitted over a cellular communication system.
14. A method as in claim 1 further comprising:
decoding the signal to retrieve data words of a first length; and
converting the retrieved data words into a second word length for serial transmission over the transport communication medium.
15. A method as in claim 1 further comprising:
allocating at least a portion of overhead bits to indicate a status of a corresponding link.
16. A method as in claim 1 further comprising:
utilizing at least one overhead bit to control hardware at a downstream node that is used to generate an RF (Radio Frequency) signal.
17. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the overhead bits include path trace information to identify a source and characteristics of a received serial stream.
18. A method as in claim 1 further comprising:
configuring at least a portion of a communication system based on path trace information.
19. A method as in claim 1 further comprising:
checking for configuration errors in at least a portion of the communication system based upon path trace information.
20. A method as in claim 1 further comprising:
mapping information received in a parallel format to the serial stream.
21. A system comprising:
a hub to receive a signal from at least one base station, the signal comprising at least one radio frequency channel; wherein the hub generates data information representing a digitized version of at least a portion of the signal;
wherein the hub produces overhead bits supporting a serial transmission of the data information over a communication medium to a remote antenna device and combines the overhead bits with at least a portion of the data information for transmission over the communication medium to the remote antenna device.
22. A system as in claim 21 further comprising:
a patch panel disposed in the hub for selecting which of multiple remote antenna devices a serial stream will be directed.
23. A system as in claim 22 , wherein the patch panel enables an operator to manually connect input and output ports via a cable so that a serial stream is directed to a particular remote antenna device.
24. A system as in claim 21 , wherein the hub comprises a down converter to strip away a radio frequency carrier frequency from the signal.
25. A system as in claim 21 , wherein the hub comprises a framer to combine the overhead bits with at least a portion of the data information for transmission over the communication medium to the remote antenna device.
26. A system as in claim 21 , wherein the transport protocol is a SONET (Synchronous Optical Network) protocol.
27. A system as in claim 21 , wherein the communication medium is a fiber optic link and the data information is transmitted to a remote RF (Radio Frequency) antenna device for reconstructing a signal that includes the radio frequency channel for transmission to a mobile cellular phone user.
28. A system as in claim 21 , wherein the overhead bits include time stamps.
29. A system as in claim 28 , wherein the time stamps are used for location services.
30. A system as in claim 28 , wherein the time stamps are used to determine a path delay.
31. A system as in claim 21 , wherein the overhead bits include parity information to identify quality of a serial stream.
32. A system as in claim 21 , wherein the overhead bits include path trace information to route a serial stream through the system.
33. A system as in claim 21 , wherein the overhead bits include path trace information to verify a configuration of equipment passing a serial stream.
34. A system as in claim 21 , wherein the overhead bits include path trace information to configure equipment as a serial stream is passed through the system.
35. A method for communicating data information in a distributed RF communication system, the method comprising:
receiving an analog RF signal comprising at least one radio frequency channel for transmission over a wireless link;
producing digital data words from the analog RF;
processing the digital data words to produce overhead bits supporting a serial transmission over a communication medium; and
framing the digital data words and overhead bits according to a selected transport protocol for transmission of the digital data words and overhead bits in a serial stream over the communication medium.