Method for adaptive distributed mobile communications, corresponding system and computer program product

1. A method of arranging exchange of signals between user terminals in a cellular communication system and at least one base station comprising a central unit and a plurality of remote units, comprising:

exchanging at least one user signal with a corresponding user terminal simultaneously via at least two of said remote units;

applying, at said at least two remote units, beam-forming weights that are calculated in the central unit; and

in a different step, applying, at said at least two remote units, separate complex distributing weights, determined in the central unit, to said user signal exchanged with said at least one user terminal.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said at least two remote units comprises a plurality of antenna elements, and wherein the method comprises applying complex beam-forming weights to said signals exchanged with said at least one user terminal.

3. The method of claim 1 , comprising exchanging the signals between said central unit and said remote units in the form of antenna carriers, wherein said antenna carriers comprises user resources to be sent to and/or received from said user terminals.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein said signals exchanged between said user terminals and said at least one base station are orthogonal frequency division multiple access signals, and wherein said user resources are orthogonal frequency division multiple access signals in the frequency domain.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein said signals exchanged between said user terminals and said at least one base station are code division multiple access signals, and wherein said user resources are code division multiple access symbol level signals.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein said remote units are connected to said central unit via an optical fiber ring.

7. The method of claim 6 , comprising performing at each remote unit in said optical fiber ring the steps of:

receiving said antenna carriers from a previous remote unit in said optical fiber ring;

extracting the user resources to be sent to associated user terminals; and

forwarding said antenna carriers to a next remote unit in said optical fiber ring.

8. The method of claim 6 , comprising performing at each remote unit in said optical fiber ring the steps of:

receiving said antenna carriers from a previous remote unit in said optical fiber ring;

combining said antenna carriers with the user resources received from associated user terminals; and

forwarding said combined antenna carriers to a next remote unit in said optical fiber ring.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein said complex distributing weights to be applied by said remote units are capable of being configured via digital commands.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein said complex distributing weights to be applied by said remote units are capable of being configured for allocating dynamically said remote units to said user terminals.

11. The method of claim 2 , wherein said beam-forming weights to be applied by said remote units are capable of being configured via digital commands.

12. The method of claim 2 , wherein said complex distributing weights and said beam-forming weights to be applied by said remote units are capable of being configured for implementing a space division multiple access technique.

13. A distributed antenna system for exchanging signals with user terminals in a cellular communication system, comprising a central unit and a plurality of remote units, wherein said distributed antenna system is configured to:

exchange at least one user signal with a corresponding user terminal simultaneously via at least two of said remote units;

apply, at said at least two remote units, beam-forming weights that are calculated in the central unit; and

in a different step, apply, at said at least two remote units, separate complex distributing weights, determined in the central unit, to said user signal exchanged with said at least one user terminal.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program product, loadable in a memory of at least one computer and comprising software code portions configured to perform the steps of:

exchanging at least one user signal with a corresponding user terminal simultaneously via at least two remote units;

applying, at said at least two remote units, beam-forming weights that are calculated in the central unit; and

in a different step, applying, at said at least two remote units, separate complex distributing weights, determined in the central unit, to said user signal exchanged with said at least one user terminal.