Method and system for improving uplink performance
View Patent ↗The present invention is directed to improvements for distributed antenna systems and more particularly to methods and systems for improving uplink communications. In one embodiment, Aggregation Point Noise Blocking provides for blocking or filtering the noise contributed by one or more of the branches coupled to an aggregation point that are not carrying the signal from a particular terminal. Signal activity from a given terminal on a particular branch can be identified and that information can be used to selectively block or filter the signal noise contributed by the other branches to an aggregation point. The selective blocking or filtering can also include an attenuation function to attenuate the signal and provide dynamic range smoothing. In another embodiment the signal can be regenerated to produce a signal that has a restored or very high SNR. An uplink regeneration block can be provided which demodulates the uplink signal to recover the transmitted information and then re-modulates the transmitted information to regenerate a signal at a restored or very high SNR.
1. A distributed antenna system comprising:
a plurality of remote units, each remote unit comprising at least one antenna; and
at least one signal regeneration component, the signal regeneration component coupled with at least one of the plurality of remote units via an input port, including:
a demodulation block adapted to demodulate all active input signals present on the input port and extract symbol information carried by each of the active input signals; and
a re-modulation block adapted to receive the extracted symbol information and to re-generate a signal of symbols for each of the active input signals for transmission through the distributed antenna system.
2. A distributed antenna system according to claim 1 wherein the re-modulation block generates a signal having a greater signal to noise ratio than the active input signals.
3. A distributed antenna system according to claim 1 wherein the re-modulation block produces the generated signal at a power level optimized for transmission through the distributed antenna system.
4. A distributed antenna system according to claim 1 further comprising at least one aggregation point and at least two uplink branches connected to the aggregation point, and the signal regeneration component is disposed upstream from the aggregation point.
5. A distributed antenna system according to claim 1 further comprising:
at least one aggregation point and at least two uplink branches connected to the aggregation point, and
at least one signal regeneration component disposed in at least one uplink branch, downstream of the aggregation point.
6. A method of transmitting a signal through a distributed antenna system comprising:
providing a plurality of remote units, each remote unit having at least one antenna;
providing a plurality of signal regeneration components, each signal regeneration component coupled with at least one remote unit among the plurality of remote units via an input port;
at least one of the signal regeneration components demodulating all active input signals present on the input port to extract symbol information carried by each of the active input signals; and
re-modulating the extracted symbol information to re-generate a signal of symbols for each of the active input signals adapted for transmission through the distributed antenna system.
7. A method according to claim 6 wherein the re-generated signal has greater signal to noise ratio than the active input signals.
8. A method according to claim 6 wherein the generated signal is produced at a power level that is optimized for transmission through the distributed antenna system.
9. The method of claim 6 , further comprising detecting whether there is signal activity from a particular terminal on any branch of the distributed antenna system connected to an aggregation point within the distributed antenna system.
10. The method of claim 6 , further comprising selectively blocking input noise to be aggregated from one or more branches of the distributed antenna system connected to an aggregation point within the distributed antenna system.
11. The distributed antenna system of claim 1 further comprising an aggregation point and a plurality of branches coupled to the aggregation point, wherein the aggregation point comprises the at least one signal regeneration component.
12. The distributed antenna system of claim 11 wherein the system detects whether there is signal activity from a particular terminal on one of the plurality of branches.
13. The distributed antenna system of claim 11 wherein the system further selectively blocks input noise to be aggregated from one or more of the plurality of branches connected to the aggregation point.
14. A distributed antenna system comprising:
a plurality of antennas;
a plurality of signal regeneration components, at least one signal regeneration component coupled with each of the plurality of antennas via an input port, each signal regeneration component including:
a demodulation block adapted to demodulate all active input signals present on the input port and extract symbol information carried by each of the active input signals; and
a re-modulation block adapted to receive the extracted symbol information and to re-generate a signal of symbols for each of the active input signals for transmission through the distributed antenna system.
15. The distributed antenna system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one signal regeneration component is comprised of a plurality of signal regeneration components, each signal regeneration component among the plurality of signal regeneration components associated with a remote unit among the plurality of remote units.
16. The method of claim 6 , comprising providing the plurality of signal regeneration components, each signal regeneration component associated with a respective remote unit among the plurality of remote units.
17. The distributed antenna system of claim 14 , wherein the at least one signal regeneration component is comprised of a plurality of signal regeneration components, each signal regeneration component among the plurality of signal regeneration components associated with an antenna among the plurality of antennas.
18. The distributed antenna system of claim 1 , wherein the signal re-generated by the re-modulation block has greater signal to noise ratio than the active input signals demodulated by the demodulation block.