DEVICE AND METHOD FOR REDUCTION IN POWER IN TRANSMISSION SIGNALS

1 . A distributed antenna system comprising:

at least one front end unit connectable by a transmission line to at least one base station, wherein the at least one front end unit is adapted to receive a transmission signal from the connected one or ones of the at least one base station;

a plurality of remote radio units connected through a distribution network to the front end unit;

a plurality of antenna elements connected to the plurality of remote radio units; and

a power reduction device for reducing power in the transmission signal, the power reduction device comprising:

a coupler, attached to the transmission line, for extraction of at least a small portion of the transmission signal; and

an energy conversion unit attached to the transmission line for the conversion of a majority portion of the transmission signal to electrical energy.

2 . The distributed antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein the power reduction device further comprises a circulator attached between the coupler and the energy conversion unit.

3 . The distributed antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein the power reduction device further comprises a rechargeable battery.

4 . The distributed antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein the energy conversion unit further comprises a rectifier.

5 . The distributed antenna system according to claim 1 , further including a power line to at least a further element in the digital distributed antenna system for supplying power to the further element.

6 . The distributed antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein the distribution network is a digital network.

7 . A power reduction device for reducing power in a transmission signal received from a telecommunications base station comprising:

a transmission line for transmission of the transmission signal;

a coupler attached to the transmission line for extraction of at least a small portion of the transmission signal; and

an energy conversion unit attached to the transmission line for the conversion of a majority portion of the transmission signal to electrical energy.

8 . The power reduction device according to claim 7 , further comprising a circulator attached between the coupler and the energy conversion unit.

9 . The power reduction device according to claim 7 , further comprising a rechargeable battery.

10 . The power reduction device according to claim 7 , wherein the energy conversion unit further comprises a rectifier.

11 . The power reduction device according to claim 7 , further comprising a power line connectable to at least one element in a digital distributed antenna system.

12 . The power reduction device according to claim 7 , further connected to an analog-to-digital converter.

13 . A method for reducing power in a transmission signal for relaying by a distributed antenna system comprising the steps of:

coupling at least a small part of the transmission signal and forwarding the small part of the transmission signal to a front end unit; and

forwarding the majority part of the transmission signal to an energy conversion unit.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising the step of rectifying the majority part of the transmission signal.

15 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising the step of powering at least one device in the distributed antenna system using electrical energy extracted from the majority part of the transmission signal.

16 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising the step of digitising the small part of the transmission signal.

17 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising the step of charging a rechargeable battery.