Method and system for diversity combining for high-performance signal reception
View Patent ↗A terrestrial receiver at a premises includes a plurality of antennas and a corresponding plurality of tuners. The terrestrial receiver receives terrestrial television signals via the plurality of antennas and the plurality of tuners and diversity combines a corresponding plurality of terrestrial television channels within the received terrestrial television signals, for example, based on control signals received from one or more customer premises equipment (CPE). The terrestrial receiver processes the diversity combined corresponding plurality of terrestrial television channels and communicates the processed and diversity combined corresponding plurality of terrestrial television channels to the one or more CPE. The diversity combined corresponding plurality of terrestrial television channels may be remodulated, and converted to corresponding analog signals prior to being communicated to the one or more CPE. The diversity combined corresponding plurality of terrestrial television channels may be demodulated and converted to intermediate frequency signals prior to being communicated to the one or more CPE.
1. A method for communication, the method comprising:
in a terrestrial receiver at a premises, said terrestrial receiver comprising a plurality of antennas, each antenna in the plurality of antennas corresponding to a plurality of tuners:
receiving a signal spanning a frequency range corresponding to a plurality of terrestrial television frequency channels via each antenna in the plurality of antennas and the corresponding plurality of tuners;
demodulating one or more frequency channels from each antenna in the plurality of antennas;
diversity combining the demodulated one or more frequency channels from each antenna in the plurality of antennas;
remodulating said one or more diversity combined frequency channels in accordance with protocols used for generation of said received signal, said remodulating resulting in a remodulated signal that spans said frequency range and contains only the one or more remodulated frequency channels, such that customer premises equipment can receive said remodulated signal via a terrestrial television antenna port of said customer premises equipment and recover content from the one or more remodulated frequency channels in said remodulated signal;
communicating said remodulated signal to said customer premises equipment.
2. The method according to claim 1 , comprising receiving one or more control signals from said one or more customer premises equipment.
3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said remodulating comprises converting said remodulated signal to an analog representation.
4. A system for communication, the system comprising:
one or more circuits for use in a terrestrial receiver at a premises, wherein said terrestrial receiver comprises a plurality of antennas, each of said one or more circuits comprising a corresponding plurality of tuners, said one or more circuits being operable to:
receive a signal spanning a plurality of terrestrial television frequency channels via said plurality of antennas and the corresponding plurality of tuners;
demodulate one or more frequency channels from each antenna in the plurality of antennas;
diversity combine the demodulated one or more frequency channels from each antenna in the plurality of antennas;
remodulate said one or more diversity combined frequency channels in accordance with protocols used for generation of said received signal, said remodulation resulting in a remodulated signal that spans said frequency range and contains only the one or more remodulated frequency channels, such that customer premises equipment can receive said remodulated signal via a terrestrial television antenna port of said customer premises equipment and recover content from the one or more remodulated frequency channels in said remodulated signal;
communicate said remodulated signal to said customer premises equipment.
5. The system according to claim 4 , wherein said one or more circuits are operable to: receive one or more control signals from said one or more customer premises equipment.
6. The system according to claim 4 , wherein said remodulation comprises conversion of said remodulated signal to an analog signal.
7. A system for communication, the system comprising:
a terrestrial receiver at a premises, said terrestrial receiver comprising a plurality of antennas and a diversity combiner, each antenna in the plurality of antennas corresponding to a plurality of tuners:
each said plurality of tuners being operable to receive a signal spanning a plurality of terrestrial television frequency channels via said plurality of antennas and demodulate one or more frequency channels;
said diversity combiner being operable to diversity combine said one or more frequency channels;
a remodulation circuit operable to remodulate said diversity combined one or more frequency channels in accordance with protocols used for generation of said received signal, said remodulation resulting in a remodulated signal that spans said frequency range and contains only the one or more remodulated frequency channels, such that customer premises equipment can receive said remodulated signal via a terrestrial television antenna port of said customer premises equipment and recover content from the one or more remodulated frequency channels in said remodulated signal; and
said terrestrial receiver is operable to communicate said remodulated signal to said customer premises equipment.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of said plurality of tuners comprises an analog-to-digital converter operable to digitize said frequency range to generate a digitized spectrum.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein each tuner of each of said plurality of tuners comprises a channelizer operable to select a frequency channel from a digitized spectrum.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein said frequency range spans from 54 MHz to 889.75 MHz.
11. The system of claim 4 , wherein each of said plurality of tuners comprises an analog-to-digital converter operable to digitize said frequency range to generate a digitized spectrum.
12. The system of claim 4 , wherein each tuner of each of said plurality of tuners comprises a channelizer operable to select a frequency channel from a digitized spectrum.
13. The system of claim 4 , wherein said frequency range spans from 54 MHz to 889.75 MHz.
14. The system of claim 7 , wherein each of said plurality of tuners comprises an analog-to-digital converter operable to digitize said frequency range to generate a digitized spectrum.
15. The system of claim 7 , wherein each tuner of each of said plurality of tuners comprises a channelizer operable to select a frequency channel from a digitized spectrum.
16. The system of claim 7 , wherein said frequency range spans from 54 MHz to 889.75 MHz.