Providing distributed wide area coverage infrastructure using bluetooth signal combiner
View Patent ↗A distributed wide area coverage system is disclosed that effectively expands the coverage area of the local wireless links by combining the signals from local area base stations and routing the combined signal back to the base stations. The base stations provide two-way open wireless communication channels among mobile devices situated within wireless signal coverage area of each of the base stations.
1. A distributed wide area coverage system, comprising:
a plurality of Bluetooth-capable local area base stations,
each base station being capable of providing two-way open wireless Bluetooth-capable communication channels only among mobile devices situated within wireless signal coverage area of that base station, wherein the two-way open wireless communication is configured with Bluetooth transceivers; and
a Bluetooth-capable signal combiner configured to receive Bluetooth-capable signals from said plurality of local area base stations,
said signal combiner capable of combining the Bluetooth-capable signals from said plurality of local area base stations to generate a single combined Bluetooth-capable signal that forms an open communication channel among the mobile devices situated within each of the plurality of local area base stations, and transmitting the single combined Bluetooth-capable signal back to said plurality of local area base stations.
2. The distributed wide area coverage system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a second signal combiner,
wherein the second signal combiner is located within one of the plurality of local area base stations and is capable of combining the signals from each of a plurality of mobile devices situated within wireless signal coverage area to generate a combined signal, and transmitting the combined signal back to each of the plurality of mobile devices.
3. The distributed wide area coverage system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the mobile devices is a wireless headset.
4. The distributed wide area coverage system of claim 1 , wherein a connection between the signal combiner and the local area base stations are configured as hard-wired connections.
5. The distributed wide area coverage system of claim 1 , wherein a connection between the signal combiner and the local area base stations are configured as wireless connections.
6. The distributed wide area coverage system of claim 1 , further comprising:
an echo canceller for cancelling echo before a combined signal is routed back to the local area base stations.
7. The distributed wide area coverage system of claim 1 , further comprising:
an order entry station providing a customer with an open channel service to at least one of the local area base stations.
8. The distributed wide area coverage system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the mobile devices receives an open wireless communication.
9. The distributed wide area coverage system of claim 8 , wherein at least another one of the mobile devices receives and sends an open wireless communication.
10. A method for expanding a coverage area of a plurality of local wireless links, comprising the steps of:
providing two-way open wireless Bluetooth-capable communication channels only among mobile devices situated within a same local wireless signal coverage area, wherein the two-way open wireless communication is configured with Bluetooth transceivers;
receiving Bluetooth-capable signals from each of a plurality of local wireless signal coverage areas,
combining the Bluetooth-capable signals from said plurality of local wireless signal coverage areas to generate a Bluetooth-capable single combined signal that forms an open communication channel among the mobile devices situated within each of the plurality of local area base stations; and
transmitting the Bluetooth-capable single combined signal back to said plurality of local wireless signal coverage areas.
11. The method for expanding a coverage area of a plurality of local wireless links of claim 10 , further comprising:
a second signal combining step for combining received signal from among each of the mobile devices situated within the local wireless signal coverage areas.
12. The method for expanding a coverage area of a plurality of local wireless links of claim 10 ,
wherein at least one of the mobile devices is a wireless headset.
13. The method for expanding a coverage area of a plurality of local wireless links of claim 10 ,
wherein a connection used in the receiving step is configured as a hard-wired connection.
14. The method for expanding a coverage area of a plurality of local wireless links of claim 10 ,
wherein a connection used in the receiving step is configured as a wireless connection.
15. The method for expanding a coverage area of a plurality of local wireless links of claim 10 , further comprising:
an echo cancelling step for cancelling echo before a combined signal is transmitted back to the local area base stations.
16. The method for expanding a coverage area of a plurality of local wireless links of claim 10 , further comprising:
an order entry step providing a customer with an open channel service to at least one of the local wireless signal coverage areas.
17. The method for expanding a coverage area of a plurality of local wireless links of claim 7 , wherein receiving the Bluetooth-capable signals is performed by at least one of the mobile devices.
18. A computer-implemented program embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium for expanding a coverage area of a plurality of local wireless links, the computer comprising a processor and an accessible repository and providing instructions, the instructions comprising the steps of:
providing two-way open wireless Bluetooth-capable communication channels only among mobile devices situated within a same local wireless signal coverage area, wherein the two-way open wireless communication is configured with Bluetooth transceivers;
receiving Bluetooth-capable signals from each of a plurality of local wireless signal coverage areas,
combining the Bluetooth-capable signals from said plurality of local wireless signal coverage areas to generate a single combined Bluetooth-capable signal that forms an open communication channel among the mobile devices situated within each of the plurality of local area base stations; and
transmitting the Bluetooth-capable single combined signal back to said plurality of local wireless signal coverage areas.
19. A distributed wide area coverage system, comprising:
a plurality of Bluetooth-capable local distributed wide area coverage systems; and
a Bluetooth-capable signal combiner capable of combining Bluetooth-capable signals from said plurality of Bluetooth-capable local distributed wide area coverage systems to generate a Bluetooth-capable combined signal, and transmitting the combined Bluetooth-capable signal back to said plurality of local distributed wide area coverage systems,
wherein each of the plurality of Bluetooth-capable local distributed wide area coverage systems comprise:
a plurality of Bluetooth-capable local area base stations,
each base station being capable of providing two-way open wireless Bluetooth-capable communication channels only among mobile devices situated within wireless signal coverage area of that base station, wherein the two-way open wireless communication is configured with Bluetooth transceivers; and
a Bluetooth-capable signal combiner configured to receive signals from said plurality of Bluetooth-capable local area base station,
said Bluetooth-capable signal combiner capable of combining the signals from said plurality of Bluetooth-capable local area base stations to generate a single combined Bluetooth-capable signal that forms an open communication channel among the mobile devices situated within each of the plurality of local area base stations, and transmitting the single combined Bluetooth-capable signal back to said plurality of local area base stations.