KR20190056397A - Magnetic coupling device with reflective plate and methods for use therewith - Google Patents

Abstract

Aspects of the present invention may include, for example, a coupling device including a receiver for receiving a radio frequency signal that carries data from a transmitting device. The magnetic coupler magnetically couples the radio frequency signal to the transmission medium as an induced electromagnetic wave bound by the outer surface of the transmission medium. The cap includes a dielectric portion that fixes the transmission medium adjacent the magnetic coupler and a reflective plate that reduces electromagnetic radiation from the magnetic coupler. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Description

Magnetic coupling device with reflective plate and methods for use therewith

Cross reference to related applications

This application claims the benefit of United States Patent Application Serial No. 15 / 273,348, filed on September 22, 2016, which claims the benefit of US Patent Application Serial No. 14 / 697,723, filed April 28, 2015, do. The contents of all of the foregoing are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety as if set forth herein.

Open field

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for managing utilization of wireless resources.

As smartphones and other portable devices become increasingly ubiquitous and data usage increases, macro cell base station devices and existing wireless infrastructure ultimately require higher bandwidth capabilities to handle increased demand . In order to provide additional mobile bandwidth, small cell layouts are underway in which microcells and picocells provide coverage for regions much smaller than conventional macrocells.

In addition, most homes and businesses have relied on broadband data access for services such as voice, video and Internet browsing. Broadband access networks include satellite, 4G or 5G wireless, powerline communication, fiber, cable and telephone networks.

Reference will now be made to the attached drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale:
1 is a block diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a guided wave communication system in accordance with various aspects described herein.
2 is a block diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a transmission device in accordance with various aspects described herein.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of an electromagnetic field distribution in accordance with various aspects described herein.
4 is a schematic diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of an electromagnetic field distribution in accordance with various aspects described herein.
5A is a schematic diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a frequency response in accordance with various aspects described herein.
5B is a schematic diagram illustrating exemplary, non-limiting embodiments of longitudinal sections of insulated wires illustrating fields of induced electromagnetic fields at various operating frequencies in accordance with various aspects described herein.
Figure 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of an electromagnetic field distribution in accordance with various aspects described herein.
7 is a block diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a circular coupler in accordance with various aspects described herein.
8 is a block diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a circular coupler in accordance with various aspects described herein.
9A is a block diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a stub coupler in accordance with various aspects described herein.
FIG. 9B is a diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of an electromagnetic distribution according to various aspects described herein.
10A and 10B are block diagrams illustrating exemplary, non-limiting embodiments of couplers and transceivers in accordance with various aspects described herein.
11 is a block diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a dual stub coupler in accordance with various aspects described herein.
12 is a block diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a repeater system in accordance with various aspects described herein.
Figure 13 shows a block diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a bi-directional repeater in accordance with various aspects described herein.
14 is a block diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a waveguide system according to various aspects described herein.
15 is a block diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a guided wave communication system in accordance with various aspects described herein.
16A and 16B are block diagrams illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a system for managing a communication system in accordance with various aspects described herein.
17A shows a flow diagram of an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a method for detecting and mitigating faults occurring in the communication network of the systems of Figs. 16A and 16B.
Figure 17B shows a flow diagram of an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a method for detecting and mitigating faults occurring in the communication network of the system of Figures 16A and 16B.
18A is a block diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a communication system in accordance with various aspects described herein.
18B is a block diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a portion of the communication system of FIG. 18A in accordance with various aspects described herein.
Figures 18c and 18d are block diagrams illustrating exemplary, non-limiting embodiments of a communication node of the communication system of Figure 18a in accordance with various aspects described herein.
19A is a schematic diagram illustrating one example, non-limiting embodiment of downlink and uplink communication techniques that enable a base station in accordance with various aspects described herein to communicate with communication nodes.
19B is a block diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a communication node in accordance with various aspects described herein.
19C is a block diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a communication node in accordance with various aspects described herein.
19D is a schematic diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a frequency spectrum according to various aspects described herein.
19E is a schematic diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting example of a frequency spectrum according to various aspects described herein.
19F is a schematic diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting example of a frequency spectrum according to various aspects described herein.
19g is a schematic diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting example of a frequency spectrum according to various aspects described herein.
19H is a block diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a transmitter in accordance with various aspects described herein.
Figure 19i is a block diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a receiver in accordance with various aspects described herein.
20A is a block diagram of an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a coupling device according to various aspects described herein.
20B is a schematic diagram of an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of an electromagnetic field distribution in accordance with various aspects described herein.
20C, 20D, 20E and 20F are pictorial illustrations of exemplary, non-limiting embodiments of coupling device components in accordance with various aspects described herein.
20G shows a flow diagram of an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of the method.
21 is a block diagram of an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a computing environment in accordance with various aspects described herein.
22 is a block diagram of an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a mobile network platform in accordance with various aspects described herein.
23 is a block diagram of one example, non-limiting embodiment of a communication device in accordance with various aspects described herein.

Reference is now made to one or more embodiments with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to generally denote like elements. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of various embodiments. However, it is evident that various embodiments may be practiced without these details (and without applying to a particular network environment or standard).

In one embodiment, an inductive wave communication system is provided that transmits and receives communication signals, such as data or other signaling, via inductive electromagnetic waves. The induced electromagnetic waves include, for example, surface waves or other electromagnetic waves that are coupled to or induced by the transmission medium. It will be appreciated that a variety of transmission media may be utilized with the guidance wave communication means within the scope of not departing from the exemplary embodiments. Examples of such transmission media include: wire, whether insulated or not, single or multi-stranded; Conductors of other shapes or configurations, including wire bundles, cables, rods, rails, and pipes; Non-conductors such as dielectric pipes, rods, rails, or other dielectric members; Combinations of conductors and dielectric materials; Or other guided wave transmission media may be included singly or in one or more combinations.

Induction of induced electromagnetic waves on a transmission medium may be independent of any potential, charge, or current that is introduced or transmitted through the transmission medium as part of the electrical circuit. For example, when the transmission medium is a wire, a small current in the wire may be formed in response to the propagation of the guide waves along the wire, but this may be due to the propagation of electromagnetic waves along the wire surface, Charge, or current that is introduced into the wire. Therefore, electromagnetic waves traveling on the wire do not require a circuit to propagate along the wire surface. Therefore, the wire is a single wire transmission line that is not part of the circuit. Also, in some embodiments, no wires are required, and electromagnetic waves can propagate along a single wire transmission medium rather than a wire.

More generally, the term " induced electromagnetic waves " or " induced waves ", as described by the present inventive subject matter, are at least partially bound to or derived from a physical object, A bundle of insulated wires or other wire bundles coated, covered, or surrounded by a physical object (e.g., exposed wire or other conductor, dielectric, insulated wire, conduit or other hollow element, dielectric or insulator) , Or other types of solid, liquid, or non-gaseous transmission media). Such a physical object can be used to propagate the propagation of inductive electromagnetic waves that can eventually propagate energy, data, and / or other signals along a transmission path from a transmitting device to a receiving device on the interface (e.g., Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > and / or < / RTI > between the elements of the transmission medium).

Unlike the free-space propagation of radio signals such as non-inductive (or non-suppressed) electromagnetic waves whose intensity decreases inversely by the square of the distance traveled by non-inductive electromagnetic waves, the induced electromagnetic waves are less than the losses experienced by non- It can propagate along the transmission medium with less loss of scale per unit distance.

Unlike electrical signals, the inductive electromagnetic waves can propagate from the transmitting device to the receiving device without requiring a separate electrical return path between the transmitting device and the receiving device. As a result, the inductive waves can be transmitted along a transmission medium (e.g., a dielectric strip) that has no conductive elements, or through a transmission medium (e.g., a single exposed wire or an insulated wire) And propagate from the device to the receiving device. Although the transmission medium includes one or more conductive elements and the inductive electromagnetic waves propagating along the transmission medium produce currents flowing in the one or more conductive elements in the direction of the induced electromagnetic waves, And propagate along the transmission medium from the transmitting device to the receiving device without requiring a flow of counter currents on the return path.

In a non-limiting example, consider electrical systems that transmit and receive electrical signals between a transmitting device and a receiving device via a conductive medium. These systems generally rely on electrically separated forward and return paths. Consider, for example, a coaxial cable with a ground conductor and a center conductor separated by an insulator. Typically in an electrical system, a first terminal of a transmitting (or receiving) device may be connected to a center conductor and a second terminal of a transmitting (or receiving) device may be connected to a grounding shield. If the transmitting device applies an electrical signal to the center conductor through the first terminal, the electrical signal will propagate along the center conductor, causing forward currents at the center conductor, and return currents at the grounding shield. The same conditions apply for a two-terminal receiving device.

On the other hand, a guided-wave communication system such as that described in the present invention is contemplated that can utilize different embodiments of a transmission medium (including, among other things, coaxial cables) to transmit and receive inducted electromagnetic waves without an electrical return path. In one embodiment, for example, the guided wave communication system of the presently disclosed subject matter can be configured to direct the induced electromagnetic waves propagating along the outer surface of the coaxial cable. The induced electromagnetic waves will cause the forward currents on the ground shield, but the induced electromagnetic waves do not require the return currents to enable the induced electromagnetic waves to propagate along the outer surface of the coaxial cable. The same is true for other transmission media used by the waveguide communication system for transmission and reception of the induced electromagnetic waves. For example, the induced electromagnetic waves induced by the guidance wave communication system on the outer surface of the exposed wire or the insulated wire can propagate along the exposed wire or the insulated exposed wire without an electrical return path.

Thus, electrical systems that require two or more conductors to transmit forward and reverse currents on separate conductors to enable the propagation of electrical signals introduced by the transmitting device may be used to transmit the propagation of the induced electromagnetic waves along the interface of the transmission medium To induce induced electromagnetic waves on the interface of the transmission medium without the need for an electrical return path.

An electromagnetic field structure that is primarily or substantially external to the transmission medium for propagating distances induced electromagnetic waves as described herein in connection with the transmission medium or derived therefrom and on or on the outer surface of the transmission medium, As shown in FIG. In other embodiments, the induced electromagnetic waves may have an electromagnetic field structure that is bound to, or derived from, the transmission medium and lies primarily or substantially within the transmission medium to propagate non-trivial distances within the transmission medium. In other embodiments, the inductive electromagnetic waves may have an electromagnetic field structure that is bound to or partially derived from the transmission medium, and partially propagated inside the transmission medium to propagate distances that are not insignificant along the transmission medium. In one embodiment, the desired electric field structure includes the desired transmission distance, characteristics of the transmission medium itself, and environmental conditions / characteristics (e.g., presence of rain, fog, atmospheric conditions, etc.) outside the transmission medium Based on various factors.

It is further noted that guided wave systems as described in the present invention are also different from optical fiber systems. The guided wave systems of the present inventive subject matter are capable of transmitting through opaque materials (e.g., a dielectric cable made of polyethylene) that allows the propagation of induced electromagnetic waves along the interface of the transmission medium through non-trivial distances, (E.g., an exposed conductive wire or an insulated conductive wire) that conducts the induced electromagnetic waves on the interface of the transmission medium. Fiber optic systems, on the other hand, can not function with opaque transmission media or other transmission media resistant to the transmission of optical waves.

The various embodiments described herein may be used in conjunction with one or more dimensions of a coupling device and / or transmission medium, such as a circumference or other cross-sectional dimension of the wire, or a smaller wavelength compared to lower microwave frequencies such as 300 MHz to 30 GHz Waveguide couplers " or more simply " couplers " for launching and / or extracting induced electromagnetic waves to and from the transmission medium at millimeter-wave frequencies (e.g., 30 to 300 GHz) , &Quot; coupled devices " or " launchers ". Transmission signals include: strips, arcs or other length of dielectric material; Horn, monopole, rod, slot or other antenna; An array of antennas; Self resonant cavity, or other resonant coupler; May be caused to propagate as waveforms induced by coupling devices such as coils, strip lines, waveguides or other coupling devices. In operation, the combining device receives electromagnetic waves from a transmitter or a transmission medium. Electromagnetic waves of the electromagnetic field structure can be conducted inside the coupling device, outside the coupling device, or some combination thereof. When the coupling device is in close proximity to the transmission medium, at least a portion of the electromagnetic wave is coupled or bound to the transmission medium and continues to propagate as the induced electromagnetic waves. In a reciprocal manner, the combining device can extract the induced waves from the transmission medium and transmit these electromagnetic waves to the receiver.

According to one exemplary embodiment, a surface wave can be transmitted or received by a transmission medium such as an outer or outer surface of a wire adjacent to or exposed to other types of media having different properties (e.g., dielectric properties) It is the type of guided wave induced by the surface. Indeed, in one exemplary embodiment, the surface of the wire leading to the surface wave can represent the back of the cloth between two different types of media. For example, in the case of an exposed or non-insulated wire, the surface of the wire may be an exposed or non-insulated wire that is exposed to air or free space. As another example, in the case of an insulated wire, the surface of the wire may depend on relative differences in the properties of the insulator, air and / or conductor (e.g., dielectric properties) May be the conductive portion of the wire that is in contact with the insulator portion of the wire or may be the insulator surface of the wire that is exposed to air or free space or may be a conductive surface of the wire contacting the insulator portion of the wire and the insulator portion of the wire May be any material region between the portions.

According to one exemplary embodiment, the term " around " of another transmission medium used with a wire or guided wave is intended to encompass a circular or substantially circular field distribution, a symmetrical electromagnetic field distribution (e.g., an electric field, a magnetic field, Or at least partially inductive wave propagation modes, such as induction waves having other fundamental mode patterns around a wire or other transmission medium. In addition, when the guided wave propagates around the wire or other transmission medium " around ", it can be seen that not only the fundamental wave propagation modes (e. G., Zero order modes), but additionally or alternatively, (E.g., surface) waveforms having non-circular field distributions around the modes (e.g., primary modes, secondary modes, etc.), asymmetric modes and / This can be done according to the induced wave propagation mode, which also includes the same non-fundamental wave propagation modes. As used herein, the term " guided wave mode " refers to the guided wave propagation mode of a transmission medium, coupling device or other system component of a guided wave communication system.

For example, these non-circular field distributions may include one or more axial lobes characterized by a relatively higher field intensity, and / or one or more nulls characterized by a relatively low field intensity, a zero field intensity, or a substantially zero field strength Null areas can be either a single area or multiple areas. In addition, the field distribution may be varied according to one exemplary embodiment, such that the one or more respective regions around the wire have a higher electric or magnetic field strength (or a combination thereof) than one or more of the other angular regions of the azimuthal orientation, ≪ / RTI > It will be appreciated that as the guided wave moves along the wire, the relative orientations or locations of the guided waves of higher order modes or asymmetric modes may vary.

As used herein, the term " millimeter wave " may refer to electromagnetic waves / signals within the " millimeter wave frequency band " of 30 GHz to 300 GHz. The term " microwave " may refer to electromagnetic waves / signals within the " microwave frequency band " of 300 MHz to 300 GHz. The term " radio frequency " or " RF " may refer to electromagnetic waves / signals within the " radio frequency band " of 10 kHz to 1 kHz. The radio signals, electrical signals and induced electromagnetic waves as described in the present inventions can be used in any desired frequency range, for example, in millimeter wave and / or microwave frequency bands, at frequencies above or below, As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. In particular, when the coupling device or transmission medium includes a conductive element, the frequency of the induced electromagnetic waves transmitted by / through the coupling device or propagating along the transmission medium may be less than the average frequency of collisions of electrons in the conductive element. In addition, the frequency of the inductive electromagnetic waves transmitted by the coupling device or propagating along the transmission medium may be a non-optical frequency, for example a radio frequency below the range of optical frequencies starting at 1 kHz.

As used herein, the term " antenna " may refer to a device that is part of a transmission or reception system that transmits / radiates or receives wireless signals.

According to one or more embodiments, the combining device includes a receiver for receiving a radio frequency signal that carries data from the transmitting device. The magnetic coupler magnetically couples the radio frequency signal to the transmission medium as an induced electromagnetic wave bound by the outer surface of the transmission medium. The cap includes a dielectric portion that fixes the transmission medium adjacent the magnetic coupler and the reflective plate reduces electromagnetic radiation from the magnetic coupler.

According to one or more embodiments, the combining device includes a receiver for receiving a radio frequency signal that carries data. The cavity resonator magnetically couples the radio frequency signal to the wire as an induced electromagnetic wave coupled by a wire. The cap includes a dielectric portion for securing the wire adjacent the cavity resonator and a reflector plate for reducing electromagnetic radiation from the cavity resonator.

According to one or more embodiments, a method includes receiving a signal through a receiver, and launching a signal on a transmission medium as an induced electromagnetic wave coupled by an outer surface of the transmission medium through the cavity resonator, And the reflective plate reduces electromagnetic radiation from the cavity resonator.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a block diagram 100 illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a waveguide communication system. In operation, the transmitting device 101 receives one or more communication signals 110 from a communication network or other communication device that contains data, and transmits the data to the transmitting device 102 via the transmitting waveguide 120). The transmitting device 102 receives the guide waves 120 and transforms the guide waves 120 into communication signals 112 that contain data for transmission to a communications network or other communications device. The induction waves 120 may be transmitted through modulation schemes such as multi-carrier modulation, such as phase shift keying, frequency shift keying, quadrature amplitude modulation, amplitude modulation, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, and frequency division multiplexing, time division multiplexing, code division multiplexing, May be modulated to transmit data through multiple access techniques such as multiplexing through waveform propagation modes and through other modulation and access methods.

Communications networks or networks include wireless communication networks such as mobile data networks, cellular voice and data networks, wireless local area networks (e.g., Wi-Fi or 802.xx networks), satellite communication networks, personal area networks or other wireless networks can do. The communication network or networks may include a wired communication network such as a telephone network, an Ethernet network, a local area network, a wide area network such as the Internet, a broadband access network, a cable network, a fiber optic network or other wired network. The communication devices may be network edge devices, bridge devices or home gateways, set top boxes, broadband modems, telephone adapters, access points, base stations or other fixed communication devices, automotive gateways or automobiles, laptop computers, tablets, smart phones, Or other communication device.

In one exemplary embodiment, the guided wave communication system 100 is configured to receive and transmit one or more communication signals 112 from a communication network or device, where the transmitting device 102 includes other data, Way manner that generates the guide waves 122 that will carry the other data to the device 101. [ In this mode of operation, the transmitting device 101 receives the guiding waves 122 and converts the guiding waves 122 into communication signals 110 containing other data for transmission to the communication network or device. The induction waves 122 may be transmitted through modulation schemes such as multi-carrier modulation, such as phase shift keying, frequency shift keying, quadrature amplitude modulation, amplitude modulation, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, and frequency division multiplexing, time division multiplexing, code division multiplexing, May be modulated to transmit data through multiple access techniques such as multiplexing through waveform propagation modes and through other modulation and access methods.

Transmission medium 125 may include a cable having at least one internal portion enclosed by a dielectric material, such as an insulator or other dielectric cover, a coating or other dielectric material, an outer surface, and a dielectric material having a corresponding circumference . In one exemplary embodiment, the transmission medium 125 operates as a single line transmission line that directs the transmission of electromagnetic waves. When the transmission medium 125 is implemented as a single wire transmission system, the transmission medium 125 may comprise a wire. The wires may be insulated or non-insulated, disconnection or multi-wire (e. G., One-piece). In other embodiments, transmission medium 125 may include conductors of other shapes or configurations, including wire bundles, cables, rods, rails, and pipes. In addition, transmission media 125 may include non-conductors such as dielectric pipes, rods, rails, or other dielectric members; Combinations of conductors and dielectric materials, conductors without dielectric materials, or other guided wave transmission media. It will be noted that transmission medium 125 may include any of the transmission media discussed above.

Moreover, as discussed above, the induction waves 120 and 122 may be contrasted with the normal propagation of power or signals through the conductors of the wire through wireless transmissions or electrical circuits through free space / air. In addition to propagation of the guide waves 120 and 122, the transmission medium 125 may optionally include one or more wires that propagate power or other communications signals in a conventional manner as part of one or more electrical circuits.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram 200 illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a transmitting device is shown. The transmitting device 101 or 102 includes a communication interface (I / F) 205, a transceiver 210 and a coupler 220.

In one example of operation, the communication interface 205 receives a communication signal 110 or 112 that includes data. In various embodiments, the communication interface 205 may be implemented using any suitable communication protocol, such as LTE or other cellular voice and data protocol, Wi-Fi or 802.11 protocol, WIMAX protocol, ultra-wideband protocol, Bluetooth protocol, ZigBee protocol, direct broadcast satellite (DBS) Or an air interface for receiving a wireless communication signal in accordance with a wireless standard protocol such as another wireless protocol. Additionally or alternatively, the communication interface 205 may be implemented using any suitable communication protocol, such as Ethernet protocol, Universal Serial Bus (USB) protocol, Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) protocol, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) protocol, FireWire And a wired interface that operates according to other wired protocols. In addition to the standards-based protocols, the communication interface 205 may operate with other wired or wireless protocols. In addition, the communication interface 205 may optionally operate with a protocol stack including a plurality of protocol layers including a MAC protocol, a transport protocol, an application protocol, and the like.

In one example of operation, transceiver 210 generates an electromagnetic wave based on communication signal 110 or 112 to convey data. The electromagnetic wave has at least one carrier frequency and at least one corresponding wavelength. The carrier frequency may be in the range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz in the millimeter wave frequency band such as 60 GHz or in the carrier frequency in the range of 30 to 40 GHz or in the microwave frequency range 300 MHz to 600 MHz in the microwave frequency range such as 26 to 30 GHz, 11 GHz, 6 GHz or 3 GHz. 30 GHz, but it will be appreciated that other carrier frequencies are possible in other embodiments. In one mode of operation, the transceiver 210 transmits a communication signal or signals 110 or 112 for transmission of electromagnetic signals in the microwave or millimeter wave band as induced electromagnetic waves induced or bound by the transmission medium 125 Just up-convert. In another mode of operation, the communication interface 205 converts the communication signal 110 or 112 into a baseband or near-baseband signal or extracts data from the communication signal 110 or 112 and the transceiver 210 transmits data , Modulates a high frequency carrier having a baseband or near-end low-band signal. The transceiver 210 modulates the data received via the communication signal 110 or 112 to preserve one or more data communication protocols of the communication signal 110 or 112 by encapsulation in a payload of a different protocol or by simple frequency shifting It will be understood. Alternatively, the transceiver 210 may convert data received via the communication signal 110 or 112 to a protocol that is different from the data communication protocol or protocols of the communication signal 110 or 112 otherwise.

In one example of operation, the coupler 220 couples the electromagnetic wave to the transmission medium 125 as an inductive electromagnetic wave that carries a communication signal or signals 110 or 112. Although the foregoing description focuses on the operation of the transceiver 210 as a transmitter, the transceiver 210 receives electromagnetic waves that transfer other data from the single-wire transmission medium through the coupler 220, Or to generate communication signals 110 or 112 that contain data. Consider additional embodiments in which the additional induced electromagnetic waves also transmit other data propagating along the transmission medium 125. Coupler 220 may couple this additional electromagnetic wave from transmission medium 125 to transceiver 210 for reception.

The transmitting device (101 or 102) includes an optional training controller (230). In one exemplary embodiment, the training controller 230 is implemented by a processor or stand-alone processor that is shared with one or more other components of the transfer device 101 or 102. The training controller 230 is configured to receive carrier frequencies, modulation schemes, and / or modulation schemes for the induced electromagnetic waves based on feedback data received by the transceiver 210 from at least one remote transmission device coupled to receive the induced electromagnetic waves. Select the wave modes.

In one exemplary embodiment, the induced electromagnetic waves transmitted by the far-transmitting device 101 or 102 also carry data propagating along the transmission medium 125. [ Data from the far-transmitting device 101 or 102 may be generated to include feedback data. In operation, the coupler 220 also couples the induced electromagnetic waves from the transmission medium 125 and the transceiver processes the electromagnetic waves to receive the electromagnetic waves and extract the feedback data.

In one exemplary embodiment, the training controller 230 is configured to select a carrier frequency, modulation scheme, and / or transmission mode for performance such as throughput, signal strength enhancement, reduced propagation loss, etc., , And operates based on feedback data to evaluate modulation schemes and / or transmission modes.

Consider the following example: the pilot wave or other test in the corresponding plurality of candidate frequencies and / or candidate modes directed to the far-field transmission device 102 coupled to the transmission medium 125 by the transmitting device 101 And starts operation under the control of the training controller 230 by transmitting a plurality of guide waves as test signals such as signals. The induced waves may additionally or alternatively include test data. The test data may indicate a particular candidate frequency of the signal and / or a derived wave mode. In one embodiment, the training controller 230 in the far-transmitting device 102 receives test signals and / or test data from any of the properly received induction waves and provides the best candidate frequency and / , A set of allowable candidate frequencies and / or derived wave modes, or a ranking of candidate frequencies and / or derived wave modes. The selection of such candidate frequency (s) and / or derived mode (s) may be based on one or more optimization criteria such as received signal strength, bit error rate, packet error rate, signal to noise ratio, Lt; / RTI > The training controller 230 generates feedback data indicative of the selection of the candidate frequency (s) and / or the derived wave mode (s) and transmits the feedback data to the transceiver 210 for transmission to the transmitting device 101. The transmitting devices 101 and 102 may then communicate data with each other based on the selection of the next candidate frequency (s) and / or the derived wave mode (s).

In other embodiments, the induced electromagnetic waves, including test signals and / or test data, may be transmitted to the transmitting device 101 remotely for receiving and analyzing by the training controller 230 of the transmitting device 101, Reflected back by the transmitting device 102, relayed again, or looped back. For example, the transmitting device 101 may be configured so that the physical reflector is switched on the line and / or the termination impedance is changed to cause reflection and / or the loopback mode is switched to couple the electromagnetic waves back to the source transmitting device 102 Or may transmit a signal to the far transfer device 102 to initiate a test mode in which the repeater mode is enabled to amplify the electromagnetic waves and retransmit back to the source transfer device 102. The training controller 230 at the source transmitting device 102 receives test signals and / or test data from any of the suitably received induction waves and generates candidate frequency (s) and / or derived wave mode (s) As shown in FIG.

Although the above procedure is described in the initiation or initialization mode of operation, each transmitting device 101 or 102 may transmit test signals, evaluate candidate frequencies or derived wave modes through non-tests such as normal transmissions, Or also continuously evaluate candidate frequencies or derived wave modes. In one exemplary embodiment, the communication protocol between transmitting devices 101 and 102 includes a request or periodic test mode in which a full test or more limited test of candidate frequencies and a subset of the derived wave modes is tested and evaluated can do. In other operating modes, re-entry into this test mode may be triggered by degradation of performance due to failure, climatic conditions, and the like. In one exemplary embodiment, the receiver bandwidth of the transceiver 210 is sufficiently wide or sweeping to receive all candidate frequencies or a training mode in which the receiver bandwidth of the transceiver 210 is wide enough or sweeps to receive all candidate frequencies And may be selectively adjusted by the training controller 230. FIG.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown a schematic diagram 300 illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of an electromagnetic field distribution. In this embodiment, the transmission medium 125 in air includes an inner conductor 301 and an insulation jacket 302 of dielectric material, as shown in cross-section. Drawing 300 includes different gray scales representing different field strengths produced by the propagation of a guided wave having asymmetric and non-fundamental waveguide modes.

In particular, the electromagnetic field distribution corresponds to a " sweet spot " in a mode that improves the induced electromagnetic wave propagation along an insulated transmission medium, but only reduces transmission loss. In this particular mode, the electromagnetic waves are induced by the transmission medium 125 to propagate along the outer surface of the transmission medium-in this case, the outer surface of the insulation jacket 302. Electromagnetic waves are partially embedded in the insulator and partially radiate on the outer surface of the insulator. In this way, electromagnetic waves are " lightly " coupled to the insulator to enable electromagnetic propagation at long distances with low propagation loss.

As shown, the guided wave has a field structure that lies predominantly or substantially externally of the transmission medium 125 that serves to guide the electromagnetic waves. The regions inside the conductor 301 have little or no field. Likewise, the areas inside the insulation jacket 302 have low field strength. The majority of the field strength is distributed in the outer surface of the insulating jacket 302 and in the lobes 304 in the vicinity of the insulating jacket 302. The presence of the asymmetric waveguide mode is advantageous because the high field intensities at the top and bottom of the outer surface of the insulating jacket 302 (in the orientation of the figure) - as opposed to the very small field intensities on the other sides of the insulating jacket 302-- Lt; / RTI >

The illustrated example corresponds to a 38 ㎓ electromagnetic wave induced by a wire with a diameter of 1.1 cm and a dielectric insulation of a 0.36 cm thickness. Since the electromagnetic waves are induced by the transmission medium 125 and the majority of the field intensity is concentrated in the air outside the insulating jacket 302 within a limited distance of the outer surface, . ≪ / RTI > In the illustrated example, this " limited distance " corresponds to the distance from the outer surface of the transmission medium 125 that is less than half the maximum cross-sectional dimension. In this case, the maximum cross-sectional dimension of the wire corresponds to an overall diameter of 1.82 cm, but this value may vary depending on the size and shape of the transmission medium 125. [ For example, if transmission medium 125 should be rectangular in shape with a height of 0.3 cm and a width of 0.4 cm, the maximum cross-sectional dimension would be a diagonal of 0.5 cm and the corresponding limited distance would be 0.25 cm. The dimensions of the area including the majority of the field strength also vary with frequency and generally increase as the carrier frequencies decrease.

It will also be noted that the components of the waveguide communication system, such as couplers and transmission medium, may have their own cutoff frequencies for each waveguide mode. The cut-off frequency generally indicates the lowest frequency at which a particular wave mode is designed to be supported by such a particular component. In one exemplary embodiment, the particular asymmetric propagation mode shown is transmitted by an electromagnetic wave having a frequency comprised in a limited range (such as F _c to 2F _c ) of the lower cutoff frequency F _c for this particular asymmetric mode Media 125. < / RTI > The lower cut-off frequency (F _c ) is specific to the characteristics of the transmission medium 125. For embodiments such as those shown, which include an inner conductor 301 surrounded by an insulating jacket 302, this cut-off frequency is dependent on the dimensions and properties of the insulating jacket 302 and possibly on the inner conductor 301 and may be empirically determined to have the desired mode pattern. However, it will be noted that similar effects can be found for a hollow dielectric or insulator without internal conductors. In this case, the cutoff frequency may vary based on the dimensions and characteristics of the hollow dielectric or insulator.

At frequencies lower than the lower cutoff frequency, the asymmetric mode is difficult to derive at the transmission medium 125 and can not propagate to all but the small distances. As the frequency increases beyond a limited range of frequencies around the cutoff frequency, the asymmetric mode is more and more shifted into the interior of the insulating jacket 302. At frequencies much larger than the cutoff frequency, the field strength is no longer concentrated outside the insulation jacket, but is concentrated mainly inside the insulation jacket 302. The ranges are further limited by the increased losses due to the propagation in the insulation jacket 302, as opposed to ambient air, although the transmission medium 125 provides strong guidance for electromagnetic waves and propagation is still possible .

Referring now to FIG. 4, there is shown a graphical illustration 400 illustrating an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of an electromagnetic field distribution. In particular, a cross-sectional view 400 similar to FIG. 3 is shown with common reference numerals used to refer to like elements. The illustrated example corresponds to a 60 ㎓ waveguide induced by a wire with a diameter of 1.1 cm and a dielectric insulator with a thickness of 0.36 cm. Since the frequency of the induced wave exceeds the limited range of the cutoff frequency of this particular asymmetric mode, much of the field strength has shifted into the interior of the insulating jacket 302. In particular, the field strength is mainly concentrated inside the insulating jacket 302. Although transmission medium 125 provides strong guidance for electromagnetic waves and propagation is still possible, ranges are more limited in comparison to the embodiment of FIG. 3 due to the increased losses due to propagation in the insulating jacket 302.

Referring now to FIG. 5A, there is shown a diagrammatic view illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a frequency response. In particular, the diagram 500 shows a graph of end-to-end losses (in decibels) over frequency overlayed to electromagnetic field distributions 510, 520 and 530 at three points for a 200 cm insulated medium voltage wire to provide. The boundary between the insulator and the ambient air is denoted by reference numeral 525 in each electromagnetic field distribution.

As discussed in conjunction with FIG. 3, one example of the desired asymmetric propagation mode shown is included in a limited range (such as F _c to 2F _c ) of the lower cutoff frequency (F _c ) of the transmission medium for this particular asymmetric mode Is induced on the transmission medium 125 by an electromagnetic wave having a frequency that is equal to or greater than the predetermined frequency. In particular, the field distribution 520 at 6 GHz is within the range of such " sweet spots " that improve the propagation of electromagnetic waves along an insulated transmission medium and ultimately reduce transmission losses. In this particular mode, the induction waves are partially embedded in the insulator and partially radiate on the outer surface of the insulator. In this way, the electromagnetic waves are " lightly " coupled to the insulator to enable induced electromagnetic propagation at long distances with low propagation loss.

At lower frequencies, represented by the electromagnetic field distribution 510 at 3 GHz, the asymmetric mode radiates to produce more propagation losses more severely. At the higher frequencies indicated by the electromagnetic field distribution 530 at 9 GHz, the asymmetric mode is more and more shifted into the interior of the insulation jacket providing too much absorption, again producing more propagation losses.

Referring now to FIG. 5B, a schematic diagram 550 illustrating exemplary, non-limiting embodiments of a longitudinal section of a transmission medium 125, such as an insulated wire, illustrating fields of induced electromagnetic waves at various operating frequencies Respectively. As shown in the figure 556, induced when the electromagnetic wave to be substantially cut-off frequency (f _c) corresponding to the "sweet spot" of the mode, the induction electromagnetic wave are coupled loosely to the insulated wire to reduce the absorption, induced The fields of the electromagnetic waves are tightly coupled to reduce the amount of radiation into the environment (e.g., air). Since the absorption and emission of the fields of the induced electromagnetic waves are low, propagation losses are so small that it is possible for the induced electromagnetic waves to propagate over longer distances.

As shown in the figure 554, the operating frequency of the induced electromagnetic wave cut across approximately twice-off frequency (f _c) - or, as mentioned, to increase to the extent of the "sweet spot", the propagation losses . More of the field intensity of the electromagnetic wave is driven into the insulating layer, thereby increasing the propagation losses. At frequencies much higher than the cut-off frequency (f _c ), the induced electromagnetic waves are strongly coupled to the insulated wire as a result of fields radiated by the induced electromagnetic waves concentrated in the insulating layer of the wire, Lt; / RTI > This further causes propagation losses due to the absorption of the induced electromagnetic waves by the insulating layer. Similarly, as shown in the figure 558, and increase their transmission loss when the operating frequency of the induced electromagnetic wave to be less than substantially cut-off frequency (f _c). At frequencies much lower than the cutoff frequency (f _c ), the induced electromagnetic waves tend to weakly (or nominally) bind to the insulated wire and thereby radiate into the environment (e.g., air) The propagation losses due to the radiation of electromagnetic waves are dominant.

Referring now to FIG. 6, there is shown a graphical illustration 600 illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of an electromagnetic field distribution. In this embodiment, transmission medium 602 is an exposed wire, as shown in cross-section. Drawing 300 includes different gray scales representing different field strengths produced by the propagation of a guided wave having symmetrical and fundamental guided wave modes at a single carrier frequency.

In this particular mode, the electromagnetic waves are induced by the transmission medium 602 to propagate along the outer surface of the transmission medium-in this case, the outer surface of the exposed wire. Electromagnetic waves are " lightly " coupled to the wires to enable propagation of electromagnetic waves over long distances with less propagation loss. As shown, the guided wave has a field structure that lies substantially outside of the transmission medium 602 that serves to guide the electromagnetic waves. The regions inside the conductor 602 have little or no field.

Referring now to FIG. 7, there is shown a block diagram 700 illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a circular coupler. In particular, a coupling device is provided for use in a transmitting device, such as the transmitting device 101 or 102 provided with Fig. The coupling device includes a circular coupler 704 coupled to a transmitter circuit 712 and an end or damper 714. The circular coupler 704 may be made of a dielectric material or other less lossy insulator (e.g., Teflon, polyethylene, etc.) or of a conductive (e.g., metal, non-metallic) Lt; / RTI > As shown, the circular coupler 704 has a waveform 706 that acts as a waveguide and propagates as a waveguide around the waveguide surface of the circular coupler 704. In the illustrated embodiment, at least a portion of the circular coupler 704 facilitates coupling between the circular coupler 704 and the wire 702 or other transmission medium as described herein to launch the guiding wave 708 on the wire Such as wire 702 or other transmission medium (such as transmission medium 125). Circular coupler 704 can be positioned such that a portion of curved circular coupler 704 is tangent to wire 702 and parallel or substantially parallel thereto. The portion of the circular coupler 704 parallel to the wire may be the point of the curve, or any point where the tangent of the curve is parallel to the wire 702. Thus, when the circular coupler 704 is located or placed, the waveform 706 traveling along the circular coupler 704 is at least partially coupled to the wire 702, And propagates as a guided wave 708 along the wire 702 as a species. The guided wave 708 may be characterized as surface waves or other electromagnetic waves that are induced or bound by the wire 702 or other transmission medium.

A portion of the waveform 706 that is not coupled to the wire 702 propagates along the arc coupler 704 as a waveform 710. It will be appreciated that the circular coupler 704 may be constructed and arranged at various positions with respect to the wire 702 to achieve the desired level of coupling or unbinding of the waveform 706 to the wire 702. For example, the curvature and / or length of the circular coupler 704 parallel or substantially parallel to the wire 702, as well as the circular coupler 702 (which may include a zero separation distance in one embodiment) The spacing of the spacers 704 may vary within a range that does not depart from the exemplary embodiments. Likewise, the arrangement of the circular coupler 704 with respect to the wire 702 is not limited to the characteristic (e.g., thickness, composition, electromagnetic properties, etc.) of each of the wire 702 and the circular coupler 704, (E. G., Frequency, energy level, etc.) of the components 706 and 708 of FIG.

The guide wave 708 stays parallel or substantially parallel to the wire 702, even when the wire 702 is bent and bent. Flexures in wire 702 can increase transmission losses, and transmission losses are also dependent on wire diameters, frequency, and materials. If the dimensions of the circular coupler 704 are selected for efficient power transmission, most of the power in the waveform 706 is transferred to the wire 702 with little power remaining in the waveform 710. The induced wave 708 may be essentially still multimode, including having non-basic or asymmetric modes, moving along a path parallel or substantially parallel to the wire 702 with or without a basic transmission mode (Discussed herein). In one embodiment, non-basic or asymmetric modes may be utilized to minimize transmission losses and / or to obtain increased propagation distances.

It is noted that the term parallel is generally a geometrical construct that is not precisely achievable in real systems. Accordingly, the term parallel used as used in this present invention, when used to describe the embodiments disclosed in the present invention, represents an approximation rather than an exact configuration. In one embodiment, substantially parallel may include approximations within 30 degrees of true parallel at all dimensions.

In one embodiment, waveform 706 may represent one or more waveform propagation modes. The arc coupler modes may be dependent on the shape and / or design of the coupler 704. One or more of the arc coupler modes of waveform 706 may create, affect, or affect one or more waveform propagation modes of guided wave 708 propagating along wire 702. It should be noted, however, that the guide wave modes present in the guide wave 706 may be the same or different from the guide wave modes of the guide wave 708. [ In this way, one or more of the guide wave modes of the guide wave 706 may not be transmitted to the guide wave 708, and one or more additional guide wave modes of the guide wave 708 are not present in the guide wave 706 It may not have been. It should also be noted that the cutoff frequency of the circular coupler 704 for a particular waveguide mode may be different from the cut-off frequency of the wire 702 or other transmission medium for such a same mode. For example, while wire 702 or other transmission medium may be operated slightly above the cut-off frequency of wire 702 or other transmission medium for a particular guided wave mode, Off frequency of the circular coupler 704 for such a mode to induce, for example, greater coupling and power transmission, far beyond the cutoff frequency of the circular coupler 704 for the same mode, or And may be operated at some other point in time relative to the cut-off frequency of the arc coupler for such a mode.

In one embodiment, the wave propagation modes on wire 702 may be similar to the arc coupler modes, as both waveforms 706 and 708 propagate around the outer periphery of each of circular coupler 704 and wire 702 . In some embodiments, as the waveform 706 is coupled to the wire 702, the coupling between the circular coupler 704 and the wire 702 may cause the modes to change shape, or new modes may be created or created . For example, differences in size, material, and / or impedances of the circular coupler 704 and the wire 702 may be used to create and / or suppress some of the arc coupler modes that do not exist in the arc coupler modes have. Waveform propagation modes may include a basic transverse electromagnetic mode (pseudo-TEM ₀₀ ) in which only small electric fields and / or magnetic fields extend in the direction of the radio waves while propagating along the wire, The magnetic fields extend radially outward. This guided wave mode may be donut shaped, and most of the electromagnetic fields are absent in the circular coupler 704 or wire 702.

Waveforms 706 and 708 include a basic TEM mode in which the fields extend radially outward and may also include other non-basic (e.g., asymmetric, higher level, etc.) modes. Although certain wave propagation modes have been discussed above, the surface characteristics of the wire 702, as well as the frequencies employed, the design of the circular coupler 704, the dimensions and composition of the wire 702, Other wave propagation modes are likewise possible, such as transverse electric (TE) and transverse (TM) modes, based on insulation, electromagnetic properties of the surrounding environment and the like. Depending on the frequency, the electrical and physical properties of the wire 702, and the particular wave propagation modes that are generated, the guided wave 708 can be an oxidized non-insulated wire, an unoxidized non-insulated wire, The conductive surface of the insulated wire and / or the insulating surface of the insulated wire.

In one embodiment, the diameter of the circular coupler 704 is smaller than the diameter of the wire 702. For the millimeter-band wavelengths used, the circular coupler 704 supports a single waveguide mode that makes up the waveform 706. This single waveguide mode can be varied as it is coupled to the wire 702 as an induced wave 708. [ If the circular coupler 704 is larger, more than one waveguide mode may be supported, but these additional waveguide modes may not be efficiently coupled to the wire 702 and more coupling losses may occur. However, in some alternative embodiments, the diameter of the circular coupler 704 may be adjusted by other methods (e.g., tapering) to reduce coupling losses, for example, Impedance matching, etc.), the wire 702 may be larger than the diameter of the wire 702.

In one embodiment, the wavelengths of waveforms 706 and 708 are comparable or less than the circumference of circular coupler 704 and wire 702. In one example, if the wire 702 has a diameter of 0.5 cm and a corresponding circumference of approximately 1.5 cm, then the wavelength of the transmitted signal is approximately 1.5 cm or less, corresponding to frequencies above 70 GHz. In another embodiment, the appropriate frequency of the transmitted signal and the carrier signal is in the range of 30 to 100 GHz, perhaps about 30 to 60 GHz, and in one example about 38 GHz. In one embodiment, when the circumference of the circular coupler 704 and wire 702 is comparable or larger than the wavelength and magnitude of the transmitted signal, the waveforms 706 and 708 may be transmitted to the various communication systems < RTI ID = 0.0 > (Non-symmetric and / or asymmetric) modes that propagate over distances sufficient to support the base station and the base station. Thus, waveforms 706 and 708 may include more than one type of electric and magnetic field configuration. In one embodiment, as the guided wave 708 propagates below the wire 702, the electric field and magnetic field configurations will remain the same for each end of the wire 702. In other embodiments, when the guiding wave 708 is in contact with interference (distortion or obstructions) or loss of energy due to transmission losses or scattering, the electric field and magnetic field configurations may cause the guided wave 708 to propagate through the wire 702, As it propagates downward, it can be changed.

In one embodiment, the circular coupler 704 may be comprised of nylon, Teflon, polyethylene, polyamide or other plastics. In other embodiments, other dielectric materials are possible. The wire surface of the wire 702 may be a metal having either exposed metal surface or may be insulated using a plastic, dielectric, insulator or other coating, jacket or sheath. In one embodiment, the dielectric or nonconductive / insulating waveguide may be paired with the exposed / metal wire or insulated wire. In other embodiments, the metal and / or conductive waveguide may be paired with the exposed / metal wire or insulated wire. In one embodiment, the oxide layer on the exposed metal surface of the wire 702 (e.g., due to exposure of the oxygen / air exposed metal surface) is similar to the properties provided by some of the insulators or enclosures, Or dielectric properties.

The graphical representations of waveforms 706,708 and 710 are provided only to illustrate the principles by which waveform 706 induces or launches guided wave 708 on wire 702 operating, for example, as a single wire transmission line. Points are noted. Waveform 710 represents a portion of waveform 706 that remains on circular coupler 704 after generation of waveguide 708. [ Actual fields and magnetic fields generated as a result of such wave propagation are not limited to the frequencies employed, the particular wave propagation mode or modes, the design of the circular coupler 704, the dimensions and composition of the wire 702, ), The selective insulation of the wire 702, the electromagnetic properties of the surrounding environment, and the like.

It is noted that an arc coupler 704 may include a terminating circuit or damper 714 at the end of a circular coupler 704 that is capable of absorbing residual radiation or energy from the waveform 710. A termination circuit or damper 714 may prevent and / or minimize residual radiation or energy that is reflected back to the transmitter circuit 712 from the waveform 710. In one embodiment, the termination circuit or damper 714 may include termination resistors that perform impedance matching to attenuate reflections, and / or other components. In some embodiments, it may not be necessary to use a terminating circuit or damper 714 if the coupling efficiencies are high enough / high and the waveform 710 is small enough. For simplicity, such a transmitter 712 and termination circuits or dampers 714 may not be shown in other figures, but in such embodiments, a transmitter and termination circuits or dampers may possibly be used .

In addition, although a single circular coupler 704 is provided that produces a single waveguide 708, multiple circular couplers 704 disposed at different points along the wire 702 and / or with different azimuthal orientations around the wire 704 may be employed to generate and receive multiple derived waves 708 at the same or different frequencies, in the same or different phases, in the same or different waveform propagation modes.

In FIG. 8, a block diagram 800 illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a circular coupler is shown. At least a portion of the coupler 704 is coupled to the circular coupler 704 and the wire 702 or other transmission medium 702 to extract a portion of the guided wave 806 as an induced wave 808, Such as wire 702 or other transmission media (such as transmission media 125) to facilitate coupling between the transmission media. Circular coupler 704 can be positioned such that a portion of curved circular coupler 704 is tangent to wire 702 and parallel or substantially parallel thereto. The portion of the circular coupler 704 parallel to the wire may be the point of the curve, or any point where the tangent of the curve is parallel to the wire 702. Thus, when a circular coupler 704 is located or placed, a wave form 806 traveling along the wire 702 is at least partially coupled to the circular coupler 704, and is coupled along the circular coupler 704 to a receiving device Not shown) as an induced wave 808. [ A portion of the waveform 806 that is not coupled to the arc coupler propagates as a waveform 810 along the wire 702 or other transmission medium.

In one embodiment, waveform 806 may represent one or more waveform propagation modes. The arc coupler modes may be dependent on the shape and / or design of the coupler 704. One or more modes of the guided wave 806 may create, affect, or affect one or more guided wave modes of the guided wave 808 propagating along the circular coupler 704. [ It should be noted, however, that the guide wave modes present in the guide wave 806 may be the same or different from the guide wave modes of the guide wave 808. [ In this manner, one or more of the guide wave modes of the guide wave 806 may not be transmitted to the guide wave 808 and additional one or more guide wave modes of the guide wave 808 may not be present in the guide wave 806 It may not have been.

Referring now to FIG. 9A, a block diagram 900 illustrating an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a stub coupler is shown. In particular, a coupling device comprising a stub coupler 904 is provided for use in a transmitting device such as the transmitting device 101 or 102 provided with Fig. The stub coupler 904 may be made of a dielectric material or other less lossy insulator (e.g., Teflon, polyethylene, etc.) or a conductive (e.g., metal, non-metallic) Lt; / RTI > As shown, the stub coupler 904 operates as a waveguide and has a waveform 906 that propagates as a waveguide around the waveguide surface of the stub coupler 904. At least a portion of the stub coupler 904 facilitates coupling between the stub coupler 904 and the wire 702 or other transmission medium as described herein to launch the guiding wave 908 on the wire Such as wire 702 or other transmission medium (such as transmission medium 125).

In one embodiment, the stub coupler 904 is a curve and the end of the stub coupler 904 can be tied, fixed, or mechanically coupled to the wire 702. When the end of the stub coupler 904 is secured to the wire 702, the end of the stub coupler 904 is parallel or substantially parallel to the wire 702. Alternatively, other portions of the dielectric waveguide beyond the end may be fixed or coupled to the wire 702 such that the fixed or bonded portion is parallel or substantially parallel to the wire 702. [ The fastener 910 can be a nylon cable tie or other type of non-conductive / dielectric material that is separate from the stub coupler 904 or is configured as an integral component of the stub coupler 904. The stub coupler 904 may be adjacent to the wire 702 without surrounding the wire 702.

When the stub coupler 904 is disposed with an end parallel to the wire 702, as in the case of the circular coupler 704 described with reference to Fig. 7, the guiding wave 906, which travels along the stub coupler 904, (702) and propagates as an induced wave (908) around the wire surface of the wire (702). In one exemplary embodiment, the guided wave 908 may be characterized as a surface wave or other electromagnetic wave.

It is noted that the graphical representations of waveforms 906 and 908 are provided only to illustrate the principles by which waveform 906 induces or launches guided wave 908 on wire 702 operating, for example, as a single wire transmission line. do. The actual electric fields and magnetic fields generated as a result of such waveform propagation are determined by the shape and / or design of the coupler, the relative position of the dielectric waveguide with respect to the wire, the frequencies employed, the design of the stub coupler 904, As well as the surface properties of the wire 702, the selective insulation of the wire 702, the electromagnetic properties of the surrounding environment, and the like.

In one embodiment, the end of the stub coupler 904 may be tapered toward the wire 702 to increase coupling efficiencies. In fact, the tapering of the ends of the stub coupler 904 can provide impedance matching for the wires 702 and reduce reflections in accordance with one exemplary embodiment of the present invention. For example, the end of the stub coupler 904 may be gradually tapered to obtain a desired level of coupling between the waveforms 906 and 908, as shown in FIG. 9A.

In one embodiment, the fastener 910 can be positioned such that there is a short length stub coupler 904 between the fastener 910 and the end of the stub coupler 904. The maximum coupling efficiencies are realized in this embodiment when the length of the end of the stub coupler 904 beyond the fastener 910 is at least several wavelengths long for any frequency being transmitted.

Referring now to FIG. 9B, a diagram 950 is shown illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of an electromagnetic distribution according to various aspects described herein. In particular, the electromagnetic distribution is provided in two dimensions for a transmitting device including coupler 952, shown as an exemplary stub coupler comprised of a dielectric material. Coupler 952 couples electromagnetic waves for propagation as a guided wave along the outer surface of wire 702 or other transmission medium.

Coupler 952 directs electromagnetic waves to a junction at x ₀ through a symmetrical waveguide mode. Although a part of the energy of the electromagnetic wave propagating along the coupler 952 is outside the coupler 952, the majority of the energy of such electromagnetic wave is included in the coupler 952. [ The junction at x ₀ couples the electromagnetic wave to wire 702 or other transmission medium at an azimuth corresponding to the bottom of the transmission medium. This coupling induces an electromagnetic wave that is induced to propagate along the outer surface of the wire 702 or other transmission medium through at least one guided wave mode in a direction 956. The majority of the energy of the induced electromagnetic waves is on the outside of the wire 702 or other transmission medium, but is very close to the outer surface thereof. In the illustrated example, the junction at x ₀ is a symmetric mode, such as the primary mode, provided with FIG. 3 that skims the surface of wire 702 or other transmission medium, and at least one asymmetric surface mode 2 Thereby forming an electromagnetic wave propagating through the other.

It is noted that the graphical representations of the guided waves are provided only to illustrate one example of guided wave coupling and propagation. Actual fields and magnetic fields generated as a result of such waveform propagation are not limited to the frequencies employed, the design and / or configuration of the coupler 952, the dimensions and composition of the wire 702 or other transmission medium, Or the surface properties of other transmission media, if present, the insulation of the wire 702 or other transmission medium, the electromagnetic properties of the surrounding environment, and so on.

Referring now to FIG. 10A, there is shown a block diagram 1000 of an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a coupler and transceiver system in accordance with various aspects described herein. The system is an example of a transmitting device (101 or 102). In particular, the communication interface 1008 is an example of a communication interface 205, the stub coupler 1002 is an example of a coupler 220, and includes a transmitter / receiver device 1006, a diplexer 1016, A low noise amplifier 1018, frequency mixers 1010 and 1020 and a local oscillator 1012 collectively form an example of a transceiver 210. The low noise amplifier 1014,

In operation, the transmitter / receiver device 1006 launches and receives waveforms (e.g., an induced wave 1004 towards the stub coupler 1002). The guidance waves 1004 may be used to transmit signals received from and transmitted to a host device, base station, mobile devices, building or other device via the communication interface 1008. [ Communication interface 1008 may be an integral part of system 1000. Alternatively, the communication interface 1008 may be tethered to the system 1000. Communication interface 1008 may include various wireless signaling protocols (e.g., LTE, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, IEEE 802.xx) including infrared protocols such as infrared data communications standards (IrDA) Etc.), a base station, a mobile device, a building, or other device that utilizes any of the above. Communication interface 1008 may be implemented using any suitable communication protocol such as Ethernet protocol, Universal Serial Bus (USB) protocol, Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) protocol, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) protocol, FireWire (IEEE 1394) protocol, Such as a fiber optic line, a coaxial cable, a twisted pair, a Category 5 (CAT-5) cable or other suitable wired or optical media for communicating with a host device, base station, mobile devices, . ≪ / RTI > For embodiments in which the system 1000 functions as a repeater, the communication interface 1008 may not be needed.

The output signals (e.g., Tx) of communication interface 1008 may be combined with a carrier (e.g., a millimeter wave carrier) generated by local oscillator 1012 in frequency mixer 1010. Frequency mixer 1010 may use heterodyne techniques or other frequency shifting techniques to frequency shift the output signals from communication interface 1008. [ For example, the signals transmitted from and to the communication interface 1008 may be a Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless protocol or other wireless 3G, 4G, 5G or higher voice and data protocol, ZigBee, WIMAX, Wireless protocol; Formatted according to a wired protocol such as Ethernet protocol, Universal Serial Bus (USB) protocol, Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) protocol, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) protocol, FireWire (IEEE 1394) protocol or other wired or wireless protocol Or orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals. In one exemplary embodiment, such frequency conversion can be done in the analog domain, and consequently, the frequency shift can be done regardless of the type of communication protocol used by the base station, mobile devices, or devices in the building. As new communication technologies are developed, the communication interface 1008 can be upgraded (e.g., updated with software, firmware and / or hardware) and frequency shifting and transmission devices can be maintained to simplify upgrades have. The carrier wave may then be transmitted to a power amplifier (" PA ") 1014 and transmitted via a diplexer 1016 via a transmitter receiver device 1006.

Signals received from the transmitter / receiver device 1006 that are directed toward the communication interface 1008 may be separated from other signals via the diplexer 1016. The received signal may then be transmitted to a low noise amplifier (" LNA ") 1018 for amplification. The frequency mixer 1020 may shift the received signal down to the original frequency (in some embodiments in millimeter waveband or approximately 38 GHz), with the help of the local oscillator 1012. Communication interface 1008 may then receive the transmission signal at input port Rx.

In one embodiment, the transmitter / receiver device 1006 may include a cylindrical or non-cylindrical metal (e.g., which is hollow in one embodiment, but may not necessarily be depicted in a percentage), or may include another conduction or vision The ends of the waveguide and stub coupler 1002 can be disposed within or near the waveguide or transmitter / receiver device 1006 such that when the transmitter / receiver device 1006 generates a transmission signal, (1002) and propagates as an induced wave (1004) around the waveguide surface of the stub coupler (1002). In some embodiments, the guided wave 1004 can propagate partially on the outer surface of the stub coupler 1002 and partially within the stub coupler 1002. In other embodiments, the guided wave 1004 can propagate substantially or completely on the outer surface of the stub coupler 1002. In yet other embodiments, the guided wave 1004 can propagate substantially or completely within the stub coupler 1002. In this latter embodiment, the guided wave 1004 is emitted at the end of the stub coupler 1002 (such as the tapered end shown in Fig. 4) for coupling to a transmission medium such as the wire 702 of Fig. 7 . Similarly, when an inductive wave 1004 is introduced (from the wire 702 to the stub coupler 1002), the inductive wave 1004 then enters the transmitter / receiver device 1006 and enters the cylindrical waveguide or conduction waveguide . Although the transmitter / receiver device 1006 is shown as including a separate waveguide, the antenna, cavity resonator, klystron, magnetron, traveling wave tube, or other radiating element may be used as a guiding wave on the coupler 1002 with or without a separate waveguide As shown in FIG.

In one embodiment, stub coupler 1002 may be completely constructed of dielectric material (or other suitable insulating material) without any metallic or conductive materials therein. Stub coupler 1002 may be comprised of nylon, Teflon, polyethylene, polyamide, other plastics or other materials suitable for facilitating the transmission of electromagnetic waves at least partially on the outer surface of such materials that are non-conductive. In another embodiment, stub coupler 1002 includes a conductive metal / metal core and may have an outer dielectric surface. Similarly, in addition to being an exposed or insulated wire, the transmission medium coupled to the stub coupler 1002 for propagating electromagnetic waves induced by the stub coupler 1002 or for supplying electromagnetic waves to the stub coupler 1002, Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > (or other suitable insulating material). ≪ / RTI >

10A shows that the aperture of the transmitter receiver device 1006 is much wider than the stub coupler 1002 but it is not drawn at a constant rate and in other embodiments the width of the stub coupler 1002 is larger than the width of the hollow waveguide 1002. In other embodiments, Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > or slightly < / RTI > smaller than this. Although not shown, in one embodiment, the end of the coupler 1002 inserted into the transmitter / receiver device 1006 is tapered to reduce reflection and increase coupling efficiencies.

One or more waveguide modes of the guided wave generated by the transmitter / receiver device 1006 may be coupled to the stub coupler 1002 to derive one or more wave propagation modes of the guided wave 1004, prior to coupling to the stub coupler 1002, Can be combined. Waveform propagation modes of the guided wave 1004 may be different from the hollow metal waveguide modes due to the different characteristics of the hollow metal waveguide and dielectric waveguide. For example, the wave propagation modes of the guided wave 1004 may include a basic transverse electromagnetic mode (pseudo-TEM ₀₀ ), wherein while the guided waves propagate along the stub coupler 1002, the small electric fields and / Or only the magnetic fields extend in the direction of the radio wave, and electric fields and magnetic fields extend radially outward from the stub coupler 1002. Basic transverse electromagnetic modes Waveform propagation modes may or may not be present inside a hollow waveguide. Therefore, the hollow metal waveguide modes used by the transmitter / receiver device 1006 are waveguide modes that can be effectively and efficiently coupled to the wave propagation modes of the stub coupler 1002.

It will be appreciated that other configurations or combinations of transmitter / receiver device 1006 and stub coupler 1002 are possible. For example, the stub coupler 1002 'may be coupled to the outer surface of the hollow metal waveguide of the transmitter / receiver device 1006' (corresponding network not shown) as shown by reference numeral 1000 ' With or without a gap) to be tangential or parallel. In another embodiment, not shown as reference numeral 1000 ', the stub coupler 1002' is configured such that the axis of the stub coupler 1002 'is not aligned coaxially with the axis of the hollow metal waveguide of the transmitter / receiver device 1006' May be disposed within the hollow metal waveguide of the transmitter / receiver device 1006 '. In any of these embodiments, the induced waves generated by the transmitter / receiver device 1006 'may include a fundamental mode (e.g., a symmetric mode) and / or a non-basic mode (e.g., May be coupled to the surface of the stub coupler 1002 'to derive one or more wave propagation modes of the guided wave 1004' on the stub coupler 1002 '.

In one embodiment, the guided wave 1004 'may partially propagate partially on the outer surface of the stub coupler 1002' and within the stub coupler 1002 '. In other embodiments, the guided wave 1004 'may propagate substantially or completely on the outer surface of the stub coupler 1002'. In yet other embodiments, the guided wave 1004 'may propagate substantially or completely within the stub coupler 1002'. In this latter embodiment, the guiding wave 1004 'is at the end of the stub coupler 1002' (such as the tapered end shown in FIG. 9) for coupling to a transmission medium such as the wire 702 of FIG. 9 It can radiate.

It will further be appreciated that other configurations of the transmitter / receiver device 1006 are possible. For example, the hollow metal waveguide of the transmitter / receiver device 1006 " (not shown in the corresponding network) shown in Fig. 10B as reference numeral 1000 " (With or without a gap) with respect to the outer surface of the transmission medium, such as a < RTI ID = 0.0 > In this embodiment, the guided wave generated by the transmitter / receiver device 1006 " is transmitted through a wire 702 comprising a basic mode (e.g., a symmetric mode) and / or a non-basic mode (e.g., asymmetric mode) May be coupled to the surface of the wire 702 to derive one or more wave propagation modes of the guided wave 908 on the wire. In another embodiment, wire 702 is coupled to transmitter / receiver device 1006 " 'so that the axis of wire 702 is aligned coaxially (or not coaxially) with the axis of the hollow metal waveguide without the use of stub coupler 1002. ) (Not shown in the corresponding network diagram) within the hollow metal waveguide - see Figure 10B, reference numeral 1000 " '. In this embodiment, the induced wave generated by the transmitter / receiver device 1006 " 'is coupled to a wire induction wave including a fundamental mode (e.g., a symmetrical mode) and / or a non-basic mode May be coupled to the surface of the wire 702 to derive one or more wave propagation modes of the wave 908.

In the case of the 1000 " and 1000 " embodiments, for the wire 702 having an insulated outer surface, the guiding wave 908 can propagate partially on the outer surface of the insulator and partially within the insulator. In embodiments, the guided wave 908 may propagate substantially or completely on the outer surface of the insulator, or substantially or completely within the insulator. For the 1000 " and 1000 " embodiments, for the wire 702, which is an exposed conductor, the guiding wave 908 can propagate partially on the outer surface of the conductor and partially within the conductor. In other embodiments, the guided wave 908 can propagate substantially or completely on the outer surface of the conductor.

Referring now to FIG. 11, there is shown a block diagram 1100 illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a dual stub coupler. In particular, a dual coupler design is provided for use in a transmitting device such as the transmitting device 101 or 102 provided with Fig. In one embodiment, two or more couplers (such as stub couplers 1104 and 1106) may be positioned around the wire 1102 to receive the induced wave 1108. In one embodiment, one coupler is sufficient to receive the guided wave (1108). In such a case, the induced wave 1108 couples to the coupler 1104 and propagates as an induced wave 1110. When the field structure of the induced wave 1108 vibrates or vibrates about the wire 1102 due to the particular induced wave mode (s) or various external factors, then the coupler 1106 will cause the induced wave 1108 to pass through the coupler 1106 ). ≪ / RTI > In some embodiments, it may be possible to oscillate or rotate around the wire 1102, be induced in different azimuthal orientations, or be used in non-basic or higher order modes, e.g., with lobes and / Four or more couplers may be placed around a portion of the wire 1102, e.g., at 90 degrees or at different intervals relative to one another, to receive the induction waves having different asymmetries. However, it will be appreciated that there may be four or more couplers disposed around a portion of the wire 1102 within a range that does not depart from the exemplary embodiments.

Couplers 1106 and 1104 are illustrated as stub couplers, but it should be noted that any of the coupler designs described herein, including a circular coupler, an antenna or horn coupler, a magnetic coupler, and the like, may likewise be used. It will also be appreciated that although some exemplary embodiments provide a plurality of couplers around at least a portion of the wire 1102, such a plurality of couplers may be considered as part of a single coupler system having multiple coupler subcomponents . For example, two or more couplers may be installed around a wire in a single installation such that the couplers are pre-positioned or adjustable relative to each other (either automatically or manually with a controllable mechanism such as a motor or other actuator) ≪ / RTI >

Receivers coupled to couplers 1106 and 1104 may use diversity combining to combine signals received from both couplers 1106 and 1104 to maximize signal quality. In other embodiments, when one or the other of the couplers 1104 and 1106 receives a transmission signal that exceeds a predetermined threshold, the receivers may use selective diversity when determining which signal to use. In addition, although reception by a plurality of couplers 1106 and 1104 is illustrated, transmission by couplers 1106 and 1104 in the same configuration can occur as well. In particular, a wide variety of multi-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission and reception schemes may be employed for transmission where a transmitting device such as the transmitting device 101 or 102 provided with FIG. 1 includes multiple transceivers and multiple couplers .

It is noted that graphical representations of waveforms 1108 and 1110 are only provided to illustrate the principles by which induced wave 1108 derives or launches waveform 1110 on coupler 1104. [ Actual fields and magnetic fields generated as a result of such waveform propagation are determined by the frequencies employed, the design of the coupler 1104, the dimensions and composition of the wire 1102, the surface properties of the wire 702, The insulation of the wire 702, the electromagnetic characteristics of the surrounding environment, and the like.

Referring now to FIG. 12, there is shown a block diagram 1200 illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a repeater system. In particular, the repeater device 1210 is provided for use in a transmitting device such as the transmitting device 101 or 102 provided with Fig. In such a system, two couplers 1204 and 1214 are coupled to the output of coupler 1204 such that induction waves 1205 propagating along wire 1202 are extracted by coupler 1204 as waveform 1206 (e.g., as a guided wave) And then placed near the wire 1202 or other transmission medium to be boosted or relayed by the repeater device 1210 and launched towards the coupler 1214 as a waveform 1216 (e.g., as a guided wave). Waveform 1216 is then launched on wire 1202 and can continue to propagate along wire 1202 as an induced wave 1217. In one embodiment, the repeater device 1210 includes at least a portion of the power utilized to step up or relay through magnetic coupling with the wire 1202, for example, when the wire 1202 is a power line or includes a power delivery conductor. Lt; / RTI > Although couplers 1204 and 1214 are illustrated as stub couplers, it should be noted that any of the coupler designs described herein, including arc couplers, antennas or horn couplers, magnetic couplers, and the like, may likewise be used.

In some embodiments, the repeater device 1210 may relay the transmission signal associated with the waveform 1206, and in other embodiments, the repeater device 1210 may communicate with other networks and / (Or other signals) from waveform 1206 to provide such data or signals to / from one or more other devices and / or to receive communication signals 110 or 112 from other networks and / And a communication interface 205 for launching an inductive wave 1216 that extracts and incorporates received communication signals 110 or 112 therein. In the repeater configuration, receiver waveguide 1208 can receive waveform 1206 from coupler 1204 and transmitter waveguide 1212 can launch induction wave 1216 toward coupler 1214 as an induced wave 1217 have. Between the receiver waveguide 1208 and the transmitter waveguide 1212, the signal embedded in the waveguide 1206 and / or the waveguide 1216 itself is amplified to correct for signal loss and other inefficiencies associated with the waveguide communication Or the signal may be received and processed to extract the data contained therein and regenerated for transmission. In one embodiment, the receiver waveguide 1208 is configured to extract data from the signal and to process the data to correct for data errors, for example utilizing error correction codes, and to reconstruct the updated signal with the corrected data . The transmitter waveguide 1212 can then transmit an inductive wave 1216 with an updated signal embedded therein. In one embodiment, the signal embedded in the guided wave 1206 may be extracted from the transmission signal for communication with another network and / or one or more other devices via the communication interface 205 as communication signals 110 or 112. [ And processed. Likewise, communication signals 110 or 112 received by communication interface 205 may be inserted into the transmission signal of induction wave 1216 that is generated and launched by coupler 1214 by transmitter waveguide 1212.

It is noted that FIG. 12 shows waveguide transmission signals 1206 and 1216, respectively, that enter from the left and evacuate to the right, but this is only intended to be simplified and not intended to be limiting. In other embodiments, receiver waveguide 1208 and transmitter waveguide 1212 may function as transmitters and receivers, respectively, to enable repeater device 1210 to be bidirectional.

In one embodiment, repeater device 1210 may be located at locations where there are discontinuous points or obstructions on wire 1202 or other transmission medium. When the wire 1202 is a power line, such obstacles may include a transformer, a connection, a pole, and other such power line devices. The repeater device 1210 can help inductive (e.g., surface) waveforms cross these obstacles on the line and boost the transmit power at the same time. In other embodiments, a coupler may be used to traverse the obstacle without the use of a repeater device. In such an embodiment, both ends of the coupler may be tied or fixed to the wire, thus providing a path for the guided wave to travel without being blocked by the obstacle.

Referring now to FIG. 13, there is shown a block diagram 1300 of an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a bi-directional repeater in accordance with various aspects described herein. In particular, bidirectional repeater device 1306 is provided for use in a transmitting device, such as transmitting device 101 or 102, provided with Fig. Although couplers are illustrated as stub couplers, it should be noted that any of the coupler designs described herein, including arc couplers, antennas or horn couplers, magnetic couplers, and the like, may likewise be used. The bi-directional repeater 1306 may employ diversity paths in the presence of two or more wires or other transmission media. If the guided wave transmissions have different transmission efficiencies and coupling efficiencies for different types of transmission media, such as insulated wires, non-insulated wires or other types of transmission media, and are exposed to the elements, then the climate and other atmospheric conditions It may be advantageous to selectively transmit on different transmission media at specific times. In various embodiments, the various transmission media may be designated as primary, secondary, tertiary, etc., whether or not the designation indicates the priority of one transmission medium than the other.

In the illustrated embodiment, the transmission medium includes insulated or non-insulated wires 1302 (referred to herein as wires 1302 and 1304, respectively) and insulated or non-insulated wires 1304. The repeater device 1306 uses the receiver coupler 1308 to receive the guided wave traveling along the wire 1302 and relays the transmission using the transmitter waveguide 1310 as the guided wave along the wire 1304. In other embodiments, repeater device 1306 may switch from wire 1304 to wire 1302, or relay transmissions along the same paths. The repeater device 1306 may include sensors or may be in communication with sensors (or the network management system 1601 shown in Figure 16A) that indicate conditions that may affect transmission. Based on the feedback received from the sensors, the repeater device 1306 can make a determination as to whether to keep the transmission along the same wire or to transfer the transmission to another wire.

Referring now to FIG. 14, there is shown a block diagram 1400 illustrating an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a bi-directional repeater system. In particular, a bi-directional repeater system is provided for use in a transmitting device such as the transmitting device 101 or 102 provided with FIG. The bi-directional repeater system includes waveguide coupling devices 1402 and 1404 that receive and transmit transmission signals from a distributed antenna system or other coupling devices located in the return system.

In various embodiments, the waveguide coupling device 1402 can receive a transmission signal from another waveguide coupling device, and the transmission signal has a plurality of subcarriers. The diplexer 1406 may isolate the transmission signal from other transmission signals and direct the transmission signal to a low noise amplifier (" LNA ") 1408. Frequency mixer 1428 may be configured to transmit a transmission signal (in some embodiments in the millimeter waveband or approximately 38 GHz) to a cellular band (approximately 1.9 GHz) for a distributed antenna system, with the aid of a local oscillator 1412, Downward to a lower frequency, such as a frequency or other frequency for the ear canal system. An extractor (or demultiplexer) 1432 extracts the signal at the subcarrier and directs the signal to an output component 1422 for selective amplification, buffering, or isolation by a power amplifier 1424 for coupling to the communication interface 205 . The communication interface 205 may further process the signals received from the power amplifier 1424 or transmit these signals to other devices such as base stations, mobile devices, buildings, etc., via a wireless or wired interface. For signals not extracted at this location, the extractor 1432 may redirect the signals to another frequency mixer 1436, which is used to modulate the carrier generated by the local oscillator 1414. The carrier is directed to a power amplifier (" PA ") 1416, along with its subcarriers, and is retransmitted by the waveguide coupling device 1404 to the other system via diplexer 1420.

The LNA 1426 is coupled to a multiplexer 1434 that is used to amplify, buffer, or isolate signals received by the communication interface 205 and then merges the signals with signals received from the waveguide coupling device 1404 The signal can be transmitted. Signals received from combining device 1404 were split by diplexer 1420 and then passed through LNA 1418 and frequency shifted downward by frequency mixer 1438. When the signals are combined by the multiplexer 1434, the signals are shifted up in frequency by the frequency mixer 1430, then boosted by the PA 1410, and transmitted to the other system by the waveguide coupling device 1402 do. In one embodiment, the bi-directional repeater system may be a repeater without an output device 1422. In this embodiment, multiplexer 1434 will not be utilized and the signals from LNA 1418 will be directed to mixer 1430 as described above. It will be appreciated that, in some embodiments, the bi-directional repeater system may be implemented using two separate and separate unidirectional repeaters. In an alternative embodiment, the bi-directional repeater system may be a booster or perform retransmissions without downward shift and upshift. Indeed, in an exemplary embodiment, retransmissions may be based on receiving a signal or a guided wave and performing some signal or guided wave processing or reshaping, filtering, and / or amplifying prior to retransmission of the signal or guided wave.

Referring now to FIG. 15, there is shown a block diagram 1500 illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a waveguide communication system. This figure illustrates an exemplary environment in which a waveguide communication system such as the waveguide communication system provided with Fig. 1 may be used.

In order to provide network access to additional base station devices, a home network that links communication cells (e.g., microcells and macrocells) to network devices in the core network is correspondingly extended. Likewise, an extended communication system linking distributed antennas of base station devices and base station devices is desirable to provide network connectivity to a distributed antenna system. A guided wave communication system 1500 such as that shown in Fig. 15 may be provided to enable alternative, incremental, or additional network connections, and may operate as a single line transmission line (e.g., transmission line) And / or a waveguide coupling system that operates to induce the transmission of electromagnetic waves may be provided to transmit and / or receive an induced wave (e.g., surface wave) communication over a transmission medium such as wire.

The guidance wave communication system 1500 includes a distribution system 1550 that includes one or more base station devices (e.g., base station device 1504) communicatively coupled to the central office 1501 and / ). ≪ / RTI > Base station device 1504 may be connected to macro cell site 1502 and central office 1501 by wire (e.g., fiber and / or cable), or wireless (e.g., microwave wireless) connection. A second example of distribution system 1560 can be used to provide wireless voice and data services to residential and / or commercial facilities 1542 (referred to herein as mobile devices 1522 and facilities 1542) . System 1500 may have additional instances of distribution systems 1550 and 1560 that provide voice and / or data services to mobile devices 1522 through 1524 and facilities 1542 as shown in FIG. have.

Macro cells, such as macro cell sites 1502, may have dedicated connections to the mobile network and base station device 1504, or may share and / or otherwise use other connections. Central office 1501 may be used to distribute media content and / or provide Internet service provider (ISP) services to mobile devices 1522-1524 and facilities 1542. [ The central office 1501 receives the media content from the crowds of satellites 1530 (one of which is shown in FIG. 15) or other content sources and distributes the first and second instances of the distribution systems 1550 and 1560 To distribute such content to mobile devices 1522 through 1524 and facilities 1542 through the Internet. The central office 1501 may be communicatively coupled to the Internet 1503 to provide Internet data services to the mobile devices 1522-1524 and the facilities 1542. [

Base station device 1504 may be mounted on or attached to a telephone pole 1516. In other embodiments, base station device 1504 may be at other locations located near transformers and / or near power lines. Base station device 1504 may facilitate connection to mobile networks for mobile devices 1522 and 1524. [ The antennas 1512 and 1514 mounted on or near the respective poles 1518 and 1520 receive signals from the base station device 1504 and the antennas 1512 and 1514 are connected to the base station device 1504, It may transmit those signals to the mobile devices 1522 and 1524 over a much wider area than if it were located nearby.

It is noted that FIG. 15 represents three telephone poles in each case of distribution systems 1550 and 1560 with one base station device for the sake of simplicity. In other embodiments, the telephone pole 1516 may have more base station devices and more telephone poles with tethered connections to the distributed antennas and / or facilities 1542. [

A transmitting device 1506 such as the transmitting device 101 or 102 provided with Figure 1 may be coupled to the antennas 1516 and 1520 via power lines or power lines that connect the poles 1516,1518 and 1520 from the base station device 1504. [ 1512, and 1514, respectively. To transmit a signal, the wireless source and / or transmitting device 1506 may be configured to either up-convert (e.g., through frequency mixing) the signal from the base station device 1504 or transmit the signal from the base station device 1504 to the microwave band Signal and the transmitting device 1506 launches a microwave band waveform that propagates as a guided wave traveling along a transmission line or other wire as described in previous embodiments. In the telephone pole 1518, another transmitting device 1508 receives the guided wave (and optionally can operate as a repeater to amplify the guided wave as needed or desired, receive the guided wave and regenerate the guided wave, ) The guiding wave is transmitted in all directions as a guided wave on the transmission line or another wire. The transmitting device 1508 extracts the signal from the microwave band guided wave and transmits the signal either at a low frequency offset or at a frequency that is less than the original cellular band frequency of the signal (e.g., 1.9 GHz or other defined cellular frequency) or other cellular ) ≪ / RTI > band frequency. The antenna 1512 may wirelessly transmit the downwardly shifted signal to the mobile device 1522. The process may be repeated by the transmitting device 1510, the antenna 1514 and the mobile device 1524, as necessary or desirable.

Transmitted signals from mobile devices 1522 and 1524 may be received by antennas 1512 and 1514, respectively. The transmission devices 1508 and 1510 upwardly shift or convert the cellular band signals into microwave bands and transmit the signals via power line (s) to base station device 1504 as an inductive wave (e.g., surface wave or other electromagnetic wave) Lt; / RTI >

The media content received by central office 1501 may be provided to distribution system 1560 in the second instance via base station device 1504 for distribution to mobile devices 1522 and facilities 1542. [ The transmitting device 1510 may be tethered to the facilities 1542 by one or more wired connections or a wireless interface. One or more wired connections may include, without limitation, power lines, coaxial cables, fiber cables, twisted pair cables, guided wave transmission media or other suitable wired media for distributing media content and / or providing Internet services. In one exemplary embodiment, the wired connections from the transmitting device 1510 include one or more very high bit rate digital subscriber line (VDSL) modems located in one or more corresponding service area interfaces (SAIs - not shown) or pedestals And each SAI or pedestal provides services to a portion of the facilities 1542. [ VDSL modems may be used to selectively distribute media content and / or provide Internet services to gateways (not shown) located in facilities 1542. [ SAIs or pedestals may be communicatively coupled to facilities 1542 via wired media such as power lines, coaxial cables, fiber cables, twisted pair cables, guided wave transmission media, or other suitable wired media. In other exemplary embodiments, the transmitting device 1510 may be communicatively coupled directly to the facilities 1542 without intermediate interfaces such as SAIs or pedestals.

In another exemplary embodiment, system 1500 includes two or more transmission lines or other wires connected to two or more wires 1516, 1518, 1520 (e.g., for example, And extra transmissions from base station / macrocell site 1502 are transmitted as guided waves beneath the surface of transmission lines or other wires. Transmission lines or other wires may be insulated or non-insulated, and depending on the environmental conditions that cause transmission losses, the combining devices may selectively receive signals from insulated or non-insulated transmission lines or other wires. The selection may be based on measurements of the signal-to-noise ratio of the wires, or may be based on determined weather / environmental conditions (e.g., moisture detectors, weather forecasts, etc.). The use of diversity paths with system 1500 may enable alternative routing functions, load balancing, increased load handling, simultaneous bidirectional or synchronous communications, spread spectrum communications, and the like.

It should be noted that the use of transmission devices 1506, 1508 and 1510 of FIG. 15 is only an example, and in other embodiments, other uses are possible. For example, the transmitting devices may be used in a return-to-home communication system to provide network connectivity to base station devices. The transmission devices 1506, 1508, and 1510 may be used in many situations where it is desirable to transmit the guided wave communication through wires, whether isolated or not. The transmission devices 1506, 1508 and 1510 are improvements that surpass other coupling devices due to contactless or limited physical and / or electrical contact with the wires that can carry high voltages. As the dielectric acts as an insulator, the transfer device may be located and / or positioned (e.g., spaced apart and / or spaced from the wire) and positioned on the wire, as long as the transfer device does not electrically contact the wire Which makes it possible to install inexpensively and / or easily and / or less complexly. However, as noted previously, conductive or non-full couplers may be employed in, for example, configurations where the wires may be employed in a telephone network, a cable television network, a broadband data service, a fiber optic communication system, Corresponding to another network having a transmission line.

Although base station device 1504 and macrocell site 1502 are shown in one embodiment, it is also noted that other network configurations are possible as well. For example, devices such as access points or other wireless gateways may be coupled to a communication protocol such as a wireless local area network, a wireless personal area network or an 802.11 protocol, a WIMAX protocol, an ultra-wideband protocol, a Bluetooth protocol, a ZigBee protocol, And may be employed in a similar manner to extend the reach of other networks, such as other wireless networks operating on the same.

Referring now to Figures 16A and 16B, block diagrams are shown depicting one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a system for managing a power grid communication system. 16A, waveguide system 1602 is provided for use in a waveguide communication system such as the system provided with Fig. Waveguide system 1602 includes transmitters 101 or 102, transceivers 210 and couplers 220 that include sensors 1604, a power management system 1605, at least one communications interface 205 .

Waveguide system 1602 may be coupled to power line 1610 to facilitate wave guided communications in accordance with the embodiments described herein. In one exemplary embodiment, the transmitting device 101 or 102 includes a coupler 220 for inducing electromagnetic waves on the surface of a power line 1610 propagating along the surface of the power line 1610, as described in the present inventive subject matter, . The transmitting device 101 or 102 may serve as a repeater for retransmitting electromagnetic waves on the same power line 1610 or routing electromagnetic waves between the power lines 1610 as shown in Figs.

The transmitting device 101 or 102 may operate at a carrier frequency that propagates along the coupler to induce corresponding induced electromagnetic waves propagating along the surface of the power line 1610 or may exhibit or transmit electromagnetic waves associated therewith in the original frequency range And a transceiver 210 configured to up-convert the operating signal, for example. The carrier frequency may be represented by a center frequency having upper and lower cutoff frequencies that define the bandwidth of the electromagnetic waves. Power line 1610 may be a conducting surface or a wire having an insulated surface (e.g., single or multi-stranded). The transceiver 210 may receive signals from the coupler 220 and may downconvert the electromagnetic waves operating at the carrier frequency to signals at the original frequency of the electromagnetic waves.

The signals received by the communication interface 205 of the transmitting device 101 or 102 for up conversion may be transmitted to the central office 1611 via the wired or wireless interface of the communication interface 205, Signals supplied by the base station 1614 via the interface, wireless signals transmitted by the mobile devices 1620 to the base station 1614 for transmission over the wired or wireless interface of the communication interface 205, Signals supplied by the intra-building communication devices 1618 via the wired or wireless interface of the communication interface 205 and / or by the mobile devices 1612 roaming in the wireless communication range of the communication interface 205. [ May include, without limitation, wireless signals that are supplied to the base station 205. In embodiments where the waveguide system 1602 functions as a repeater as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, the communication interface 205 may or may not be included in the waveguide system 1602.

Electromagnetic waves propagating along the surface of the power line 1610 include data payloads and include packets or frames of data that further include networking information (such as header information identifying the one or more destination waveguide systems 1602) Lt; / RTI > The networking information may be provided by waveguide system 1602 or an originating device such as central office 1611, base station 1614, mobile devices 1620 or in-building devices 1618, or a combination thereof . In addition, the modulated electromagnetic waves may contain error correction data that mitigates signal impairment. The networking information and error correction data are transmitted to the destination waveguide system 1602 by detecting transmission signals directed to the destination waveguide system 1602 and transmitting the voice and / or data signals directed to the receiver communication devices communicatively coupled to the destination waveguide system 1602 Can be used by the destination waveguide system 1602 to downconvert and process into the error correcting data transmission signals it contains.

Now referring to the sensors 1604 of the waveguide system 1602, the sensors 1604 may include a temperature sensor 1604a, a fault detection sensor 1604b, an energy loss sensor 1604c, a noise sensor 1604d, (E.g., climate sensor) 1604e, an environmental (e.g., climate) sensor 1604f, and / or an image sensor 1604g. The temperature sensor 1604a may be configured to detect ambient temperature, the temperature of the transfer device 101 or 102, the temperature of the power line 1610, (e.g., by comparison with a setpoint or reference point between the transfer device 101 or 102 and 1610, etc.) Temperature differences, or any combination thereof. In one embodiment, the temperature metrics may be periodically collected and reported to the network management system 1601 via the base station 1614.

Fault detection sensor 1604b may perform measurements on power line 1610 to detect faults such as signal reflections that may indicate the presence of a downstream fault that may interfere with the propagation of electromagnetic waves on power line 1610. [ Signal reflection may be detected by the transmitting device 101 or 102, for example, by a transmitting device 101 or 102 that is totally or partially reflected back to the transmitting device 101 or 102 from a fault on the power line 1610 located downstream from the transmitting device 101 or 102 , And distortion due to the electromagnetic waves transmitted on the power line 1610.

Signal reflections can be caused by obstacles on the power line 1610. For example, a branch can cause electromagnetic reflections that can cause a corona discharge when the branches are on power line 1610 or are very close to power line 1610. Other obstacles that may cause electromagnetic wave reflections include objects that are entangled on power line 1610 (e.g., clothing, shoes wrapped around a power line 1610 with a shoelace, etc.), corroded accumulation on a power line 1610, The accumulation can be included without limitation. The power grid components may delay or impede the propagation of electromagnetic waves on the surface of power lines 1610. [ Examples of power grid components that can cause signal reflections include without limitation a transformer and a joint connecting twisted power lines. A sharp angle on the power line 1610 may cause electromagnetic wave reflections.

Fault detection sensor 1604b is a circuit that compares the magnitudes of the electromagnetic wave reflections with the magnitudes of the intrinsic electromagnetic waves transmitted by transmitting device 101 or 102 to determine how much the downstream fault of power line 1610 attenuates the transmitted signals . ≪ / RTI > The fault detection sensor 1604b may further comprise a spectrum analyzer circuit that performs spectral analysis on the reflected waves. The spectral data generated by the spectrum analyzer circuit may be compared to spectral profiles through pattern recognition, expert systems, curve fitting, matched filtering or other artificial intelligence, classification or comparison techniques, for example, to match the spectral data closest to The type of fault can be identified based on the spectral profile. The spectral profiles may be stored in the memory of the fault detection sensor 1604b or remotely accessible by the fault detection sensor 1604b. The profiles may include spectral data that models different obstacles that may be encountered at the power lines 1610 to enable the fault detection sensor 1604b to locally identify faults. The identification of the failure may be reported to the network management system 1601 via the base station 1614, if recognized. The fault detection sensor 1604b may utilize the transmitting device 101 or 102 to transmit electromagnetic waves as test signals to determine the round trip time for electromagnetic wave reflection. The round trip time measured by the fault detection sensor 1604b can be used to calculate the distance traveled by the electromagnetic wave to the point where the reflection occurs, which is the distance from the transmitting device 101 or 102 to the downstream fault on the power line 1610 To be calculated by the fault detection sensor 1604b.

The calculated distance may be reported to the network management system 1601 via the base station 1614. In one embodiment, the location of waveguide system 1602 on power line 1610, which network management system 1601 may use to determine the location of a fault on power line 1610 based on a known topology of the power grid, (1601). In another embodiment, waveguide system 1602 may provide the location of waveguide system 1602 in network management system 1601 to assist in determining the location of a fault on power line 1610. The location of waveguide system 1602 may be obtained by waveguide system 1602 from a pre-programmed location of waveguide system 1602 stored in the memory of waveguide system 1602 or waveguide system 1602 may be obtained from waveguide system 1602 The position of the waveguide system 1602 can be determined using a GPS receiver (not shown) included in the waveguide system 1602.

The power management system 1605 provides energy to the aforementioned components of the waveguide system 1602. The power management system 1605 can receive energy from solar cells or from a transformer (not shown) coupled to power line 1610, or by inductive coupling to power line 1610 or other nearby power line. The power management system 1605 may include a backup battery and / or a supercapacitor or other capacitor circuit that provides temporary power to the waveguide system 1602. The energy loss sensor 1604c may be used when the waveguide system 1602 has a power loss condition and / or to detect the occurrence of some other malfunction. For example, the energy loss sensor 1604c may be used when there is a power loss due to defective solar cells, an obstruction on solar cells causing the solar cells to malfunction, a power loss on the power line 1610, and / It is possible to detect when a failure occurs due to the expiration of the backup battery or a detectable defect in the supercapacitor. When a malfunction and / or power loss occurs, the energy loss sensor 1604c may notify the network management system 1601 via the base station 1614. [

Noise sensor 1604d may be used to measure noise on power line 1610 that may adversely affect the transmission of electromagnetic waves on power line 1610. [ Noise sensor 1604d may sense sources of unexpected electromagnetic interference, noise bursts, or other disturbances that may interfere with reception of modulated electromagnetic waves on the surface of power line 1610. [ Noise rupture can be caused, for example, by a corona discharge or other noise source. Noise sensor 1604d may be coupled to waveguide system 1602 from a remote location database that stores internal databases or noise profiles of noise profiles through pattern recognition, expert systems, curve fitting, matched filtering, or other artificial intelligence, It is possible to compare the measured noise with the noise profile obtained by the above. From this comparison, the noise sensor 1604d may identify a noise source (e.g., a corona discharge or otherwise) based on a noise profile that provides, for example, the closest match to the measured noise. Noise sensor 1604d may detect how noise affects transmissions by measuring transmission metrics such as bit error rate, packet loss rate, jitter, packet retransmission requests, and the like. The noise sensor 1604d may, among other things, report the congestion of the noise sources, the time of occurrence of the noise sources, and transmission metrics to the network management system 1601 via the base station 1614. [

Vibration sensor 1604e may include accelerometers and / or gyroscopes that detect two-dimensional or three-dimensional vibrations on power line 1610. The vibrations may be stored locally in the waveguide system 1602 via pattern recognition, expert systems, curve fitting, matched filtering or other artificial intelligence, classification or comparison techniques, or may be stored in the waveguide system 1602, Profiles. ≪ / RTI > Vibration profiles can be used, for example, to distinguish dead trees from wind gusts based on a vibration profile that provides the closest match to the measured vibrations, for example. The results of this analysis may be reported by the vibration sensor 1604e to the network management system 1601 via the base station 1614. [

The environmental sensor 1604f may include, among other things, atmospheric pressure, ambient temperature (which may be provided by the temperature sensor 1604a), wind speed, humidity, wind direction, and a barometer to measure rainfall. Environmental sensor 1604f collects raw information to predict climatic conditions prior to occurrence of climate conditions through pattern recognition, expert systems, knowledge-based systems, or other artificial intelligence, classification or other climate modeling and prediction techniques, 1602, or by comparing this information with environmental profiles that can be obtained from a remote database. The environmental sensor 1604f may report the raw data as well as the analysis of the raw data to the network management system 1601. [

The image sensor 1604g may be a digital camera (e.g., a solid-state image sensor or a CCD imager, an infrared camera, etc.) that captures images in the vicinity of the waveguide system 1602. The image sensor 1604g may be used to detect movement of the camera (e.g., actual position or focus / position) to check the powerline 1610 from multiple views (e.g., top, bottom, left, right, Zooms) of the electrical system. Alternatively, the image sensor 1604g may be designed such that no electromechanical mechanism is needed to obtain multiple views. The collection and retrieval of the imaging data generated by the image sensor 1604g may be controlled by the network management system 1601 or it may be collected by itself and reported by the image sensor 1604g to the network management system 1601 have.

And / or to detect and / or predict, and / or mitigate disturbances that may interfere with the propagation of electromagnetic wave transmission signals on power lines 1610 (or any other form of electromagnetic wave transmission media). Other sensors that may be suitable for collecting telemetry information associated with power lines 1610 may be utilized by waveguide system 1602. [

Referring now to FIG. 16B, a block diagram 1650 illustrates a power grid 1653 in accordance with various aspects described herein, and a system for managing a communications system 1655 embedded therein or associated with a power grid 1653 Illustrative, non-limiting embodiments of the invention. Communication system 1655 includes a plurality of waveguide systems 1602 coupled to power lines 1610 of power grid 1653. At least some of the waveguide systems 1602 used in the communication system 1655 may communicate directly with the base station 1614 and / or the network management system 1601. Waveguide systems 1602 that are not directly connected to base station 1614 or network management system 1601 may communicate with base station 1614 via other downstream waveguide systems 1602 connected to base station 1614 or network management system 1601. [ Or may participate in communication sessions with the network management system 1601.

The network management system 1601 is communicatively coupled to the equipment of the utility company 1652 that provides each entity and the equipment of the communication service provider 1654 that provides status information associated with each of the power grid 1653 and the communication system 1655, Can be combined. The network management system 1601 and the equipment and communication service provider 1654 of the utility company 1652 may provide status information in the management of the power grid 1653 and / or the communication system 1655 and / ) And / or communication devices utilized by communication service provider employees 1658 and / or communication devices utilized by public service enterprise personnel 1656 to direct communication service provider employees 1658 .

17A shows a flowchart of one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a method 1700 for detecting and mitigating faults occurring in the communication network of the systems of Figs. 16A and 16B. The method 1700 includes transmitting and receiving messages that are inserted into, or form part of, modulated electromagnetic waves or other types of electromagnetic waves that the waveguide system 1602 moves along the surface of the power line 1610 1702 ). ≪ / RTI > The messages may be voice messages, streaming video, and / or other data / information exchanged between communication devices communicatively coupled to the communication system 1655. In step 1704, the sensors 1604 of the waveguide system 1602 may collect sensing data. In one embodiment, the sensed data may be collected at step 1704 before, during, or after the transmission and / or receipt of the messages at step 1702. [ In step 1706, the waveguide system 1602 (or the sensors 1604 themselves) may influence (e.g., by being transmitted by) or communication received by the waveguide system 1602 The occurrence of an actual or predicted failure in a given communication system 1655 can be determined from the sensed data. Waveguide system 1602 (or sensors 1604) may process temperature data, signal reflection data, energy loss data, noise data, vibration data, environmental data, or any combination thereof to make such determination . The waveguide system 1602 (or sensors 1604) may also detect, identify, estimate, or predict the location of the source of the fault and / or the source of the fault in the communication system 1655. Waveguide system 1602 may be inserted into the modulated electromagnetic waves traveling along the surface of power line 1610 or may be inserted into modulated electromagnetic waves traveling along the surface of power line 1610 if a fault is not detected / Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > 1702 < / RTI >

At step 1708, if a fault is predicted / estimated to be detected / identified or to occur, waveguide system 1602 may determine whether interference may be adversely affecting the transmission or reception of messages at communication system 1655 (or alternatively, (I.e., whether it is likely to give an adverse effect or an adverse effect), the process proceeds to step 1710. In one embodiment, the duration threshold and occurrence frequency threshold may be used in step 1710 to determine when failure to communication in communication system 1655 adversely affects. For purposes of illustration only, it is assumed that the duration threshold is set to 500 ms, while the occurrence frequency threshold is set to five obstacles that occur in an observation period of 10 seconds. Thus, a fault having a duration longer than 500 ms will trigger the duration threshold. In addition, any failure that occurs more than 5 times in a 10 second time interval will trigger the occurrence frequency threshold.

In one embodiment, the failure can be considered to adversely affect signal integrity in communications systems 1655 when only the duration threshold is exceeded. In other embodiments, the failure may be considered to adversely affect signal integrity in communication systems 1655 when both the duration threshold and the occurrence frequency threshold are exceeded. Thus, the latter embodiment is more cautious than the electronic embodiment that distinguishes faults that adversely affect signal integrity in the communication system 1655. It will be appreciated that many other algorithms and associated parameters and thresholds may be utilized for step 1710 in accordance with the illustrative embodiments.

Referring again to method 1700, at step 1710, if the failure detected at step 1708 does not satisfy the condition for the adversely affected communication (e.g., if the duration threshold does not exceed the occurrence frequency threshold) ), Waveguide system 1602 may proceed to step 1702 and continue processing the messages. For example, if the fault detected in step 1708 has a duration of 1 millisecond with a single occurrence in a 10 second period then no threshold will be exceeded. Thus, such a failure can be considered to have a nominal impact on signal integrity in the communication system 1655 and therefore will not be flagged as a fault requiring mitigation. Although not flagged, the occurrence of a failure, the time of occurrence of the failure, the frequency of occurrence of the failure, spectral data and / or other useful information may be reported to the network management system 1601 as telemetry data for monitoring.

Referring again to step 1710, on the other hand, if the obstacle meets the conditions for the adversely affected communication (e. G., Exceeds any one or both of the thresholds), waveguide system 1602 proceeds to step 1712 , And report the event to the network management system 1601. [ The report may include raw sensing data collected by the sensors 1604, a description of the fault by the waveguide system 1602, if recognized, a time of occurrence of the fault, a frequency of occurrence of the fault, a location associated with the fault, Retransmission requests, parameter readings such as jitter, latency, and the like. Based on the predictions by one or more sensors of the waveguide system 1602, the report is based on the historical detection data that the predictions are collected by the sensors 1604 of the waveguide system 1602, Type, and, if predictable, the expected occurrence time of the failure, and the expected occurrence frequency of the predicted failure.

At step 1714, the network management system 1601 may determine whether the location of the fault can be determined, by indicating to the waveguide system 1602 to reroute the traffic to avoid the fault, The technique can be determined. In one embodiment, the waveguide coupling device 1402 for detecting a fault may be configured to provide the same functionality as the repeater shown in Figs. 13 and 14 to enable the waveguide system 1602 to reroute traffic to different transmission media and avoid interference. The repeater may be instructed to connect the waveguide system 1602 from the primary power line affected by the fault to the secondary power line. In one embodiment, in which waveguide system 1602 is configured as a repeater, waveguide system 1602 may itself perform rerouting of traffic from the primary power line to the secondary power line. It is further noted that in the case of bi-directional communication (e.g., full-duplex or half-duplex communication), the repeater can be configured to reroute traffic from the secondary power line back to the primary power line for processing by the waveguide system 1602 .

In another embodiment, waveguide system 1602 may be configured to redirect traffic from the primary power line to the secondary power line and back to the primary power line in a manner that avoids interference, The traffic can be redirected by instructing the second repeater to be located at < RTI ID = 0.0 > a < / RTI > It is further noted that for bi-directional communication (e.g., full-duplex or half-duplex communication), the repeaters can be configured to reroute traffic from the secondary power line back to the primary power line.

To avoid interfering with existing communication sessions that occur on the secondary power line, the network management system 1601 uses the unused time of the secondary power line to redirect data and / or voice traffic away from the primary power line to avoid failure May instruct waveguide system 1602 to instruct repeater (s) to utilize slot (s) and / or frequency band (s).

At step 1716, while traffic is being rerouted to avoid a failure, the network management system 1601 may notify the equipment of the utility company 1652 and / or the equipment of the communication service provider 1654, Eventually, if detected and, if perceived, the location of the fault can be communicated to the employee 1656 of the utility company and / or the employee 1658 of the communication service provider. Field staff from any organization may engage in resolving disability at a determined location of disability. If the obstacle is removed or alleviated by the employees of the utility company and / or the telecommunications service provider, such an employee may be a field device (e.g., laptop computer, smart phone, etc.) communicatively coupled to the network management system 1601, And / or network management system 1601 using the utilities and / or telecommunications service provider's equipment. The notification may include a description of how the failure was mitigated and any changes to the power lines 1610 that may change the topology of the communication system 1655. [

If the failure has been resolved (as determined in decision 1718), the network management system 1601 can recover the previous routing configuration used by the waveguide system 1602, or the recovery method used to mitigate the failure, ), It may indicate to the waveguide system 1602 in step 1720 to route the traffic according to the new routing configuration. In another embodiment, the waveguide system 1602 may be configured to monitor the mitigation of the failure by transmitting test signals on the power line 1610 to determine when the failure has been removed. If the waveguide system 1602 determines that the network topology of the communication system 1655 has not changed when the waveguide system 1602 detects the absence of a fault, Or the waveguide system 1602 may utilize a new routing configuration that adapts to the detected new network topology.

17B shows a flowchart of one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a method 1750 for detecting and mitigating faults occurring in the communication network of the system of Figs. 16A and 16B. In one embodiment, the method 1750 includes a step 1752 in which the network management system 1601 receives maintenance information associated with maintenance schedules from equipment of the utility company 1652 or equipment of the communication service provider 1654 Can be started. The network management system 1601 may identify the maintenance activities to be performed during the maintenance schedule at step 1754 from the maintenance information. From these activities, the network management system 1601 can perform maintenance (e.g., scheduled replacement of the power line 1610, scheduled replacement of the waveguide system 1602 on the power line 1610, (E.g., scheduled reconfiguration of resources 1610, etc.).

In another embodiment, network management system 1601 may receive telemetry information from one or more waveguide systems 1602 in step 1755. The telemetry information includes, among other things, the identity of each waveguide system 1602 presenting telemetry information, measurements taken by the sensors 1604 of each waveguide system 1602, Information relating to predicted, estimated, or actual faults detected by sensors 1604, location information associated with each waveguide system 1602, estimated location of detected faults, identification of faults, etc. can do. The network management system 1601 may determine from the telemetry information the types of disturbances that may be disadvantageous to the operations of the waveguide, the transmission of electromagnetic waves along the wire surface, or both. Network management system 1601 may use telemetry information from multiple waveguide systems 1602 to identify and identify faults. In addition, the network management system 1601 may request and / or provide telemetry information from the waveguide systems 1602 in the vicinity of the affected waveguide system 1602 to triangulate the location of the fault and / 1602, < / RTI >

In another embodiment, the network management system 1601 may receive an unscheduled activity report from the maintenance site personnel at step 1756. [ Unscheduled maintenance can occur as a result of unplanned field calls, or as a result of unexpected field problems found during on-site calls or scheduled maintenance activities. Activity reports may include changes to the topology configuration of the power grid 1653 resulting from the on-site staff handling problems found in the communication system 1655 and / or the power grid 1653, Modifications to one or more waveguide systems 1602 (such as, for example, waveguide gratings or gratings), relaxation of obstacles to be performed, if any.

At step 1758, the network management system 1601 determines whether a failure will occur based on the maintenance schedule, or whether a failure has been or is expected to occur based on telemetry data, or if the failure identified in the site activity report is not scheduled From the report received according to steps 1752 through 1756. < RTI ID = 0.0 > From any of these reports, the network management system 1601 can determine whether the detected or predicted failure is due to the re-routing of traffic by the waveguide systems 1602 or other waveguide systems 1602 of the communication system 1655 It is possible to judge whether or not it is necessary.

When a fault is detected or predicted at step 1758, the network management system 1601 may instruct one or more of the waveguide systems 1602 to cause the network management system 1601 to reroute the traffic to avoid a fault The process may proceed to step 1760. The network management system 1601 may proceed to step 1770 and skip steps 1762, 1764, 1766 and 1772 when the fault is persistent due to a persistent topology change of the power grid 1653. [ At step 1770, the network management system 1601 may instruct the one or more waveguide systems 1602 to use a new routing configuration that adapts to the new topology. However, when a fault has been detected from the telemetry information provided by one or more waveguide systems 1602, the network management system 1601 may be configured to maintain the maintenance staff 1656 of the utility company or the maintenance staff 1658 of the communication service provider, May be notified of the location of the disability, if recognized, the type of disability, and any relevant information that may be helpful to such an employee to mitigate the disability. When a failure is anticipated due to maintenance activities, the network management system 1601 reconfigures the traffic routes in a given schedule (consistent with the maintenance schedule) to avoid failures caused by maintenance activities during the maintenance schedule To one or more waveguide systems 1602. [

Upon returning to step 1760 and upon completion of step 1760, the process may continue to step 1762. At step 1762, the network management system 1601 may monitor when the failure (s) have been mitigated by field personnel. The mitigation of the disturbance may be accomplished in step 1762 by field personnel through a communication network (e.g., a cellular communication system) utilizing field equipment (e.g., a laptop computer or handheld computer / device) ). ≪ / RTI > If the field staff reports that the fault has been mitigated, the network management system 1601 may proceed to step 1764 to determine from the field report whether the topology change was necessary to mitigate the fault. The topology change may include rerouting the power line 1610, reconfiguring the waveguide system 1602 to utilize a different power line 1610, or otherwise utilizing alternative links to circumvent the fault . If a topology change has occurred, the network management system 1601 may instruct the one or more waveguide systems 1602 to use a new routing configuration that adapts to the new topology at step 1770.

However, if the topology change has not been reported by the field personnel, the network management system 1601 will determine that the network management system 1601 will send test signals to test the routing configuration that was used prior to the detected failure (s) It may proceed to step 1766, which may indicate to one or more waveguide systems 1602. [ The test signals may be transmitted to the waveguide systems 1602 that are affected in the vicinity of the fault. The test signals may be used to determine whether signal impairments (e. G., Electromagnetic reflections) are detected by any of the waveguide systems 1602. [ If the test signals confirm that the previous routing configuration no longer suffers the previously detected failure (s), the network management system 1601 then determines in step 1772 to restore the previous routing configuration to the affected waveguide systems (1602). However, if the test signals analyzed by the one or more waveguide coupling devices 1402 and reported to the network management system 1601 indicate that there is a failure (s) or new failure (s), then the network management system 1601 Will proceed to step 1768 and report this information to field personnel to further address the site problems. The network management system 1601 may continue to monitor the mitigation of the failure (s) in step 1762 in this situation.

In the embodiments described above, the waveguide systems 1602 may be configured to adapt themselves to mitigation of changes and / or failures of the power grid 1653. That is, the one or more affected waveguide systems 1602 may self monitor the mitigation of failures without requiring that the instructions are sent by the network management system 1601 to one or more affected waveguide systems 1602 May be configured to reconfigure the traffic routes. In this embodiment, one or more self-configurable waveguide systems 1602 may be coupled to network management system 1601 such that network management system 1601 can maintain a macro level view of the communication topology of communication system 1655. [ The routing options of the management system 1601 can be notified.

For purposes of simplicity of explanation, although each process is shown and described as a series of blocks, respectively, in Figures 17A and 17B, some blocks may be described in different orders and / or in different orders from that shown and described herein It should be understood and appreciated that the claimed subject matter is not limited by the order of the blocks, as they may occur at the same time. Moreover, not all illustrated blocks may be required to implement the methods described herein.

Referring now to FIG. 18A, there is shown a block diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a communication system 1800 in accordance with various aspects of the present inventive subject matter. Communication system 1800 may include a macro base station 1802, such as a base station or access point, with antennas covering one or more sectors (e.g., six or more sectors). The macro base station 1802 may be a communication node 1804A serving as a master or distribution node for other communication nodes 1804B through 1804E distributed within or within the coverage area of the macro base station 1802 at different geographic locations ). ≪ / RTI > Communication nodes 1804 may be mobile devices (e.g., cellular phones) and / or fixed / stationary devices (e.g., residential or commercial facilities) that are wirelessly coupled to any of the communication nodes 1804 Such as a communication device at a base station (e. G., At a base station). In particular, the wireless resources of the macro base station 1802 may be redirected to enable and / or utilize specific mobile and / or stationary devices to utilize the wireless resources of the communication node 1804 in the communication range of mobile or stationary devices, ≪ / RTI >

Communication nodes 1804A through 1804E may be communicatively coupled to each other via interface 1810. [ In one embodiment, the interface 1810 may comprise a wired or tethered interface (e. G., A fiber optic cable). In other embodiments, the interface 1810 may comprise a wireless RF interface forming a wireless distributed antenna system. In various embodiments, communication nodes 1804A-1804E may be configured to provide communication services to mobile and stationary devices in accordance with instructions provided by macro base station 1802. [ However, in other examples of operation, communication nodes 1804A-1804E only operate as analog repeaters that spread the coverage of macro base station 1802 throughout the entire range of individual communication nodes 1804A-1804E.

The micro base stations (shown as communication nodes 1804) may be different from the macro base station in several ways. For example, the communication range of the micro base stations may be smaller than the communication range of the macro base station. Thus, the power consumed by the micro base stations may be less than the power consumed by the macro base station. The macro base station may optionally be configured to determine which carrier frequency, spectral segment (s) and / or spectral segment (s) to communicate with which mobile and / or stationary devices and micro base stations should communicate and when communicating with certain mobile or stationary devices To the micro base stations. ≪ RTI ID = 0.0 > [0035] < / RTI > In such cases, control of the micro base stations by the macro base station may be performed in a master-slave configuration or other suitable control configurations. The resources of the micro base stations may be simpler and less expensive than the resources utilized by the macro base station 1802, whether they operate independently or under the control of macro base station 1802.

Referring now to FIG. 18B, a block diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of communication nodes 1804B through 1804E of communication system 1800 of FIG. 18A is shown. In this example, the communication nodes 1804B through 1804E are located on a public fixture such as a streetlight. In other embodiments, some of the communication nodes 1804B through 1804E may be located on a pole or pole that is used to distribute buildings, or power and / or communication lines. In these instances, communication nodes 1804B through 1804E may be configured to communicate with each other via interface 1810, and interface 1810 is shown as an air interface in this example. Communication nodes 1804B through 1804E may communicate with one or more communication protocols (e.g., fourth generation (4G) wireless signals such as LTE signals or other 4G signals, fifth generation (5G) 1806C via a wireless interface 1811 that is compliant with wireless communication protocols (e.g., 802.11 signals, ultra-wideband signals, etc.). Communications nodes 1804 may be higher than an operating frequency (e.g., 1.9 GHz) used to communicate with mobile or stationary devices via interface 1811 (e.g., 28 GHz, 38 GHz, 60 GHz, (E.g., 80 GHz or higher) at the operating frequency. (E.g., 900 MHz band, 1.9 GHz band, 2.4 GHz band, and / or 5.8 GHz band), as will be exemplified by the spectrum downlink and uplink figures of FIG. Etc.) and / or a higher carrier frequency and a wider bandwidth enabling communication nodes 1804 to provide communication services to multiple mobile or stationary devices via one or more different protocols between communication nodes 1804 Lt; / RTI > In other embodiments, a broadband spectrum in the lower frequency range (e.g., in the range of 2 to 6 GHz, 4 to 10 GHz, etc.) may be used, for example, when the interface 1810 is implemented via a waveguide- Can be employed.

Referring now to Figures 18c and 18d, block diagrams illustrating exemplary, non-limiting embodiments of a communication node 1804 of communication system 1800 of Figure 18a are shown. The communication node 1804 may be attached to a support structure 1818 of a public fixture, such as a pole or a pole, as shown in Fig. 18C. The communication node 1804 may be attached to the support structure 1818 with an arm 1820 that is constructed of plastic or other suitable material attached to the end of the communication node 1804. [ The communication node 1804 may further include a plastic housing assembly 1816 that covers components of the communication node 1804. Communications node 1804 may be powered by power line 1821 (e.g., 110/220 VAC). Power line 1821 may originate from a street or may be coupled to a power line of a telephone pole.

In one embodiment, in which communication nodes 1804 communicate wirelessly with other communication nodes 1804 as shown in Figure 18B, an upper portion 1812 of communication node 1804 (also shown in Figure 18D) For example, a plurality of antennas 1822 (e.g., 16 dielectric antennas without metal planes) coupled to one or more transceivers, such as the transceiver 1400 shown in Figure 14, wholly or partially, . ≪ / RTI > Each of the plurality of antennas 1822 of the upper portion 1812 may operate as a sector of the communication node 1804 and each sector is configured to communicate with at least one communication node 1804 in the communication range of the sector . Alternatively, or in combination, the interface 1810 between the communication nodes 1804 may be a tethered interface (e.g., a fiber optic cable, or a power line used to transmit the induced electromagnetic waves, as described above). In other embodiments, the interface 1810 may be different between the communication nodes 1804. That is, some of the communication nodes 1804 may communicate via the air interface, while other communication nodes 1804 communicate via the tethered interface. In still other embodiments, some of the communication nodes 1804 may utilize a combined wireless and tethered interface.

The lower portion 1814 of the communication node 1804 includes a plurality of antennas 1824 for wirelessly communicating with one or more mobile or stationary devices 1806 at an appropriate carrier frequency to mobile or stationary devices 1806 You may. As noted above, the carrier frequency used by the communication node 1804 to communicate with the mobile or stationary devices via the air interface 1811 shown in FIG. 18B may be transmitted via the interface 1810 to the communication nodes 1804 May be different from the carrier frequency used to communicate between the base station and the base station. The plurality of antennas 1824 at the lower end 1814 of the communication node 1804 may utilize a transceiver such as the transceiver 1400 shown in FIG. 14, for example, wholly or in part.

Referring now to FIG. 19A, a block diagram illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of downlink and uplink communication techniques that enables the base station to communicate with communication nodes 1804 of FIG. 18A is shown . 19A, downlink signals (i. E., Signals directed from the macro base station 1802 to the communication nodes 1804) are transmitted over control channels 1902, one or more mobile or stationary devices 1906, Downlink spectrum segments 1906 that each include modulated signals that can be frequency translated into the original / natural frequency band of the modulated signals to enable communication nodes 1804 to communicate, May be spectrally partitioned into pilot signals 1904 that may be supplied with some or all of the spectral segments 1906 to mitigate distortion generated between the spectral segments 1904. The pilot signals 1904 are processed by the upper portion 1816 (tethered or wireless) transceivers of the downstream communication nodes 1804 to remove distortion (e.g., phase distortion) from the received signal . Each downlink spectrum segment 1906 is sufficiently wide to include one or more downlink modulated signals located in frequency channels (or frequency slots) in the corresponding pilot signal 1904 and spectral segment 1906 (E. G., 50 MHz) bandwidth 1905 may be assigned. WLAN channels or other modulated communication signals (e. G., From 10 to < RTI ID = 0.0 > 20 MHz).

The uplink modulated signals generated by the mobile or stationary communication devices in the intrinsic / original frequency bands of the uplink modulated signals are frequency converted and thereby converted to frequency channels (or frequency slots) in the uplink spectrum segment 1910 Lt; / RTI > The uplink modulated signals may represent cellular channels, WLAN channels or other modulated communication signals. Each uplink spectral segment 1910 may include a portion or each of the spectral segments 1910 (e.g., 1910) to enable upstream communication nodes 1804 and / or macro base station 1802 to remove distortion May be assigned a similar or the same bandwidth 1905, including a pilot signal 1908, which may be provided with a pilot signal 1908.

In the illustrated embodiment, the downlink and uplink spectrum segments 1906 and 1910 may comprise any number of unique / original frequency bands (e.g., 900 MHz band, 1.9 GHz band, 2.4 GHz band, and / (Or frequency slots) that can be occupied by modulated signals that have been frequency-transformed from the frequency bands (e.g. The modulated signals may be upconverted to adjacent frequency channels in the downlink and uplink spectral segments 1906 and 1910. In this way, although some adjacent frequency channels in the downlink spectrum segment 1906 may inherently contain modulated signals in the same unique / original frequency band, other adjacent frequency channels in the downlink spectrum segment 1906 But may also include modulated signals that are frequency transformed to be located in different intrinsic / original frequency bands, or adjacent frequency channels of downlink spectrum segment 1906. For example, the first modulated signal in the 1.9 GHz band and the second modulated signal in the same frequency band (i.e., 1.9 GHz) are frequency-converted and thereby applied to adjacent frequency channels of the downlink spectrum segment 1906 Lt; / RTI > In another example, a first modulated signal in the 1.9 GHz band and a second communication signal in a different frequency band (i.e., 2.4 GHz) are frequency converted and thereby placed in adjacent frequency channels of the downlink spectrum segment 1906 . Thus, the frequency channels of the downlink spectrum segment 1906 may be occupied by the same or different signaling protocols and any combination of modulated signals of the same or different unique / original frequency bands.

Likewise, although some adjacent frequency channels in the uplink spectrum segment 1910 may inherently contain modulated signals in the same frequency band, adjacent frequency channels in the uplink spectrum segment 1910 may inherently have different intrinsic / Modulated signals that are frequency transformed to be located in bands or adjacent frequency channels of the uplink segment 1910. For example, the first communication signal in the 2.4 GHz band and the second communication signal in the same frequency band (i.e., 2.4 GHz) are frequency converted and thereby located in adjacent frequency channels of the uplink spectrum segment 1910 . In another example, the first communication signal in the 1.9 GHz band and the second communication signal in the different frequency band (i.e., 2.4 GHz) are frequency converted and thereby located in adjacent frequency channels of the uplink spectrum segment 1906 . Thus, the frequency channels of the uplink spectrum segment 1910 may be occupied by the same or different signaling protocols and any combination of modulated signals of the same or different unique / original frequency bands. It should be noted that the downlink spectrum segment 1906 and the uplink spectrum segment 1910 may be separated by a guard interval or by a larger frequency interval, depending on the spectral allocation of the positions themselves, adjacent to each other .

Referring now to FIG. 19B, there is shown a block diagram 1920 illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a communication node. In particular, a communication node device, such as a communication node 1804A of a wireless distributed antenna system, includes a base station interface 1922, a duplexer / diplexer assembly 1924 and two transceivers 1930 and 1932. However, when communication node 1804A is assigned with a base station, such as macro base station 1802, duplexer / diplexer assembly 1924 and transceiver 1930 can be omitted and transceiver 1932 can communicate with base station interface 1922 ). ≪ / RTI >

In various embodiments, base station interface 1922 receives a first modulated signal having one or more downlink channels in a first spectral segment for transmission to a client device, such as one or more mobile communication devices. The first spectral segment represents the original / natural frequency band of the first modulated signal. The first modulated signal may be one or more downlink messages that conform to a signaling protocol such as LTE or other 4G wireless protocol, 5G wireless communication protocol, ultra wideband protocol, WiMAX protocol, 802.11 or other wireless local area network protocol, and / Link communication channels. The duplexer / diplexer assembly 1924 is configured to transmit the first modulated signal in the first spectral segment to the transceiver 1930 for direct communication with one or more mobile communication devices in the range of the communication node 1804A as a free- ). In various embodiments, the transceiver 1930 filters, powers down the spectrum of downlink channels and uplink channels of modulated signals in the original / natural frequency bands of the modulated signals while attenuating out-of-band signals. Amplification, transmit / receive switching, duplexing, diplexing, and an analog network that provides only impedance matching to drive one or more antennas to transmit and receive wireless signals of interface 1810.

In other embodiments, the transceiver 1932 may, in various embodiments, generate a first modulated signal based on the analog signal processing of the first modulated signal without changing the signaling protocol of the first modulated signal, And to perform frequency conversion of the modulated signal to a first modulated signal at a first carrier frequency. The first modulated signal at the first carrier frequency may occupy one or more frequency channels of the downlink spectrum segment 1906. The first carrier frequency may be in millimeter wave or microwave frequency band. As used herein, analog signal processing includes filtering, switching, duplexing, diplexing, amplifying, frequency up and down conversion, and limiting digital to analog conversion or digital frequency conversion, for example, And other analog processing that does not require digital signal processing. In other embodiments, the transceiver 1932 may apply digital signal processing to the first modulated signal without altering the signaling protocol of the first modulated signal without utilizing any form of analog signal processing, To a first carrier frequency of the first modulated signal at the first carrier frequency. In yet other embodiments, the transceiver 1932 may apply a combination of digital signal processing and analog processing to the first modulated signal without altering the signaling protocol of the first modulated signal, such that the first modulation in the first spectral segment Lt; / RTI > to the first carrier frequency of the transmitted signal.

Transceiver 1932 is frequency translated by the network element into a first spectral segment such that one or more downstream communication nodes 1904B through 1904E for wireless distribution of the first modulated signal to one or more other mobile communication devices, Type antenna system with one or more corresponding reference signals, such as one or more control channels, pilot signals, or other reference signals, and / or one or more clock signals, such as one or more reference signals, along with a first modulated signal at a first carrier frequency, Signals. ≪ / RTI > In particular, the reference signal enables the network element to reduce the phase error (and / or other types of signal distortion) during the processing of the first modulated signal from the first carrier frequency to the first spectral segment. The control channel directs the communication node of the decentralized antenna system to convert the first modulated signal at the first carrier frequency to the first modulated signal in the first spectral segment to generate frequency selections and reuse patterns, , ≪ / RTI > and / or other control signaling. In embodiments where the instructions transmitted and received via the control channel are digital signals, the transceiver 1932 provides analog-to-digital conversion, digital-to-analog conversion, and processes digital data transmitted and / Digital signal processing components. The clock signals supplied with the downlink spectrum segment 1906 synchronize the timing of digital control channel processing by the downstream communication nodes 1904B through 1904E to recover commands from the control channel and / or provide other timing signals Can be utilized.

In various embodiments, transceiver 1932 may receive a second modulated signal at a second carrier frequency from a network element, such as communication node 1804B through 1804E. The second modulated signal may be one or more modulated signals that conform to a signaling protocol such as LTE or other 4G wireless protocol, 5G wireless communication protocol, ultra wideband protocol, 802.11 or other wireless local area network protocol, and / Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > uplink < / RTI > In particular, a mobile or stationary communication device generates a second modulated signal in a second spectral segment, such as an original / natural frequency band and a network element frequency, and generates a second modulated signal in a second spectral segment at a second carrier frequency And transmits a second modulated signal at a second carrier frequency received by communication node 1804A. The transceiver 1932 is operative to convert the second modulated signal at the second carrier frequency to a second modulated signal in the second spectral segment and to transmit the second modulated signal in the second spectral segment to the duplexer / Assembly 1924 and base station interface 1922 to the base station, such as macro base station 1802, for processing.

Consider the following example where communication node 1804A is implemented as a distributed antenna system. The uplink frequency channels in the uplink spectrum segment 1910 and the downlink frequency channels in the downlink spectrum segment 1906 are the same as the DOCSIS 2.0 or higher standard protocol, the WiMAX standard protocol, the UWB protocol, the 802.11 standard protocol, the LTE protocol, The same 4G or 5G voice and data protocol, and / or signals that are otherwise modulated and formatted according to standard communication protocols. In addition to protocols conforming to current standards, any of these protocols may be modified to work with the system of Figure 18A. For example, an 802.11 protocol or other protocol may be used for communicative coupling to network elements that are communicating (e.g., through network elements or downlink spectrum segment 1906 or a particular frequency channel of uplink spectrum segment 1910) Or separate data channels to provide collision detection / multiple access over a wider area (which allows for communication devices to listen to one another). In various embodiments, both the uplink frequency channels of the uplink spectrum segment 1910 and the downlink frequency channel of the downlink spectrum segment 1906 may all be formatted according to the same communication protocol. However, alternatively, two or more different protocols may be used on both the uplink spectrum segment 1910 and the downlink spectrum segment 1906, for example, to be compatible with the wider client devices and / or to operate in different frequency bands. Can be employed.

When two or more different protocols are employed, the first subset of downlink frequency channels of downlink spectrum segment 1906 may be modulated according to a first standard protocol and the downlink frequency channel of downlink spectrum segment 1906, May be modulated according to a second standard protocol different from the first standard protocol. Similarly, a first subset of the uplink frequency channels of the uplink spectrum segment 1910 may be received by the system for demodulation according to the first standard protocol, and the first subset of uplink frequency channels of the uplink spectrum segment 1910 2 subset may be received according to a second standard protocol for demodulation according to a second standard protocol different from the first standard protocol.

According to these examples, base station interface 1922 may receive a modulated signal such as one or more downlink channels in the original / natural frequency bands of one or more downlink channels from a base station or other communication network element, such as macro base station 1802, Lt; / RTI > Similarly, the base station interface 1922 provides modulated signals received from other network elements that are frequency translated to modulated signals having one or more uplink channels in the original / natural frequency bands of one or more uplink channels . The base station interface 1922 is configured to transmit communication signals, such as uplink and downlink channels in the original / natural frequency bands of the uplink and downlink channels, communication control signals, and other network signaling to the macro base station or other network element Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > and / or < / RTI > in both directions. The duplexer / diplexer assembly 1924 is coupled to a transceiver 1932 that frequency converts the frequency of the downlink channels from the original / natural frequency bands of the downlink channels to the frequency spectrum of the interface 1810, The wireless communication link is configured to transmit downlink channels in the range of communication device 1804A to one or more other communication nodes 1804B through 1804E of the distributed antenna system, Signals.

In various embodiments, the transceiver 1932 is operable to receive downlink channel signals 1906 through mixing or other heterodyne operation to produce frequency-converted downlink channel signals occupying the downlink frequency channels of the downlink spectrum segment 1906. [ And an analog radio device for frequency downlinking the downlink channel signals in their natural / natural frequency bands. In this example, the downlink spectrum segment 1906 is within the downlink frequency band of the interface 1810. In one embodiment, the downlink channel signals are transmitted to the downlink spectrum segment 1906 from the original / natural frequency bands of the downlink channel signals for direct communication with the transmit / receive line to one or more of the other communication nodes 1804B through 1804E. To 28 ㎓, 38 ㎓, 60 ㎓, 70 ㎓ or 80 ㎓. However, it is noted that other frequency bands (e.g., 3 GHz to 5 GHz) for downlink spectrum segment 1906 may be employed as well. For example, the transceiver 1932 may be configured such that the frequency band of the interface 1810 is less than the original / intrinsic spectral bands of the one or more downlink channel signals. And downconvert one or more downlink channel signals of the downlink channel.

The transceiver 1932 may include a plurality of individual antennas, such as the antennas 1822 provided with Fig. 18d for communicating with the communication nodes 1804B, a phased antenna array or a steerable beam, or a plurality May be coupled to a multi-beam antenna system for communicating with the devices. The duplexer / diplexer assembly 1924 includes a duplexer, a triplexer, and a duplexer that operate as a " channel duplexer " to provide bidirectional communication across multiple communication paths through one or more of the original / unique spectral segments of the uplink and downlink channels. Splitter, switch, router and / or other assembly.

In addition to sending modulated signals frequency downconverted to the other communication nodes 1804B through 1804E at a carrier frequency that is different from the original / unique spectral bands of the frequency converted modulated signals, All or a selected portion of the modulated signals that have not changed in their original / unique spectral bands may be communicated to the client devices in the wireless coverage of the communication node 1804A via the air interface 1811. [ The duplexer / diplexer assembly 1924 transmits the modulated signals in the original / unique spectral bands of the modulated signals to the transceiver 1930. Transceiver 1930 includes a channel selection filter for selecting one or more downlink channels for transmission of downlink channels to mobile or fixed wireless devices via wireless interface 1811 and antennas 1824 provided with FIG. And a power amplifier coupled to one or more of the same antennas.

In addition to downlink communications to client devices, communications node 1804A may also operate in a reciprocal manner to handle uplink communications originating from client devices. In operation, transceiver 1932 receives uplink channels in uplink spectrum segment 1910 through the uplink spectrum of interface 1810 from communication nodes 1804B through 1804E. The uplink frequency channels in the uplink spectrum segment 1910 are transmitted to the uplink frequency channels of uplink spectrum segment 1910 from the original / unique spectral bands of the modulated signals by communication nodes 1804B through 1804E, And includes the converted modulated signals. In situations where the interface 1810 operates at a higher frequency band than the intrinsic / original spectral segments of the modulated signals supplied by the client devices, the transceiver 1932 may convert the upconverted modulated signals into an up- Down to the original frequency bands of the received signals. However, in situations where the interface 1810 operates at a lower frequency band than the intrinsic / original spectral segments of the modulated signals supplied by the client devices, the transceiver 1932 may perform down conversion Lt; / RTI > to the original frequency bands of the modulated signals. In addition, the transceiver 1930 operates to receive all or selected of the modulated signals in the original / natural frequency bands of the modulated signals from the client devices via the wireless interface 1811. The duplexer / diplexer assembly 1924 couples the modulated signals in the original / natural frequency bands of the modulated signals received via the transceiver 1930 to transmit to the macro base station 1802 or other network elements of the communication network, To the interface 1922. Similarly, the modulated signals occupying the uplink frequency channels in the uplink spectrum segment 1910, which are frequency translated into the original / natural frequency bands of the signals modulated by the transceiver 1932, Is supplied to the duplexer / diplexer assembly 1924 for transmission to the base station interface 1922 to be transmitted to the other network elements of the base station.

Referring now to FIG. 19C, a block diagram 1935 illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a communication node is shown. In particular, a communication node device such as a communication node 1804B, 1804C, 1804D or 1804E of a wireless distributed antenna system includes a transceiver 1933, a duplexer / diplexer assembly 1924, an amplifier 1938 and two transceivers 1936A and 1936B).

In various embodiments, transceiver 1936A may be configured to receive, from communication node 1804A or upstream communication nodes 1804B through 1804E, channels of a first modulated signal in a transformed spectrum of a distributed antenna system (e.g., (E.g., frequency channels of one or more downlink spectrum segments 1906) at a first carrier frequency. The first modulated signal includes first communication data provided by the base station and directed to the mobile communication device. The transceiver 1936A receives from the communication node 1804A one or more corresponding reference signals, such as one or more control channels and pilot signals or other reference signals associated with the first modulated signal at the first carrier frequency, / RTI > and / or one or more clock signals. The first modulated signal may be one or more downlink messages that conform to a signaling protocol such as LTE or other 4G wireless protocol, 5G wireless communication protocol, ultra wideband protocol, WiMAX protocol, 802.11 or other wireless local area network protocol, and / Link communication channels.

As discussed above, the reference signal may cause a phase error (and / or other types of signal distortion) during processing of the first modulated signal at the first carrier frequency to the first spectral segment (i.e., the original / unique spectrum) / RTI > The control channel directs the communication node of the decentralized antenna system to convert the first modulated signal at the first carrier frequency to the first modulated signal in the first spectral segment to generate frequency selections and reuse patterns, , And / or other control signaling. The clock signals may synchronize the timing of digital control channel processing by downstream communication nodes 1804B through 1904E to recover commands from the control channel and / or provide other timing signals.

Amplifier 1938 provides a first modulated signal at a first carrier frequency along with reference signals, control channels and / or clock signals coupled to transceiver 1936B via a duplexer / diplexer assembly 1924 And the transceiver 1936B may be coupled to one or more of the communication nodes 1804B-1804E operating in a similar manner and downstream from the illustrated communication nodes 1804B-1804E, in this example, And control signals and / or clock signals as a repeater for retransmitting the amplified first modulated signal at the first carrier frequency.

The amplified first modulated signal at the first carrier frequency along with the reference signals, control channels and / or clock signals is also coupled to the transceiver 1933 via a duplexer / diplexer assembly 1924. The transceiver 1933 performs digital signal processing on the control channel to recover instructions in the form of, for example, digital data from the control channel. The clock signal is used to synchronize the timing of digital control channel processing. The transceiver 1933 may then use the reference signal to reduce distortion during the conversion process, based on analog (and / or digital) signal processing of the first modulated signal and in accordance with subsequent instructions, And performs frequency conversion from the first modulated signal to the first modulated signal in the first spectral segment. The transceiver 1933 wirelessly transmits the first modulated signal in the first spectral segment for direct communication with one or more mobile communication devices in the range of the communication nodes 1804B through 1804E as free space wireless signals.

In various embodiments, transceiver 1936B may be coupled to uplink spectrum segment 1910 from other network elements, such as one or more other communication nodes 1804B through 1804E downstream from the illustrated communication nodes 1804B through 1804E. Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > second < / RTI > The second modulated signal may be one or more uplink communication channels that conform to a signaling protocol such as LTE or other 4G wireless protocol, 5G wireless communication protocol, ultra wideband protocol, 802.11 or other wireless local area network protocol, and / Lt; / RTI > In particular, one or more mobile communication devices may generate a second modulated signal in a second spectral segment, such as the original / natural frequency band, and a downstream network element may generate a second modulated signal at a second carrier frequency in a second spectral segment And transmits a second modulated signal at a second carrier frequency in the uplink spectrum segment 1910 received by the illustrated communication nodes 1804B through 1804E. The transceiver 1936B is coupled to the amplifier 1938 via a duplexer / diplexer assembly 1924 for amplifying and retransmitting the second modulated signal at the second carrier frequency and back through the transceiver 1936A for further retransmission To communication node 1804A or upstream communication nodes 1804B through 1804E to the base station, such as macro base station 1802, for processing.

Transceiver 1933 may receive a second modulated signal in a second spectral segment from one or more mobile communication devices in the range of communication nodes 1804B through 1804E. The transceiver 1933 is operable to perform frequency translation on a second modulated signal in a second spectral segment with a second modulated signal at a second carrier frequency, for example under the control of instructions received via a control channel Control channels and / or clock signals for use by the communication node 1804A to retranslate the second modulated signal back to the original / unique spectral segments, and at the second carrier frequency To the transceiver 1936A via the duplexer / diplexer assembly 1924 and amplifier 1938 for amplifying and retransmitting the second modulated signal of the communication node 1804A or the upstream communication nodes < RTI ID = 0.0 > 1804B to 1804E to the base station, such as the macro base station 1802, for processing.

Referring now to FIG. 19D, there is shown a schematic diagram 1940 illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting example of a frequency spectrum. In particular, spectrum 1942 may be generated by downlink segment 1906 after the modulated signals are frequency converted (e.g., via up-conversion or down-conversion) from one or more original / unique spectral segments to spectrum 1942, Or a modulated signal occupying frequency channels of the uplink spectrum segment 1910. [

In the example provided, the downstream (downlink) channel band 1944 includes a plurality of downstream frequency channels represented by separate downlink spectrum segments 1906. Likewise, the upstream (uplink) channel band 1946 includes a plurality of upstream frequency channels represented by separate uplink spectrum segments 1910. The spectral shapes of the separate spectral segments, together with the associated reference signals, control channels and clock signals, are considered to be placeholders for the frequency assignment of each modulated signal. The actual spectral response of each frequency channel in the downlink spectrum segment 1906 or uplink spectrum segment 1910 will vary based on the protocol and modulation employed and additionally over time.

The number of uplink spectrum segments 1910 may be less than or greater than the number of downlink spectrum segments 1906, depending on the asymmetric communication scheme. In this case, the upstream channel band 1946 may be narrower or wider than the downstream channel band 1944. Alternatively, the number of uplink spectrum segments 1910 may be equal to the number of downlink spectrum segments 1906 if a symmetric communication scheme is implemented. In this case, the width of the upstream channel band 1946 may be equal to the width of the downstream channel band 1944 and bit stuffing or other data filling techniques may be employed to compensate for changes in the upstream traffic. In other embodiments, the downstream channel band 1844 may be at a higher frequency than the upstream channel band 1946, although the downstream channel band 1944 is represented by a lower frequency than the upstream channel band 1946. In addition, the number of spectral segments in spectrum 1942 and the respective frequency positions of the spectral segments may change dynamically over time. For example, a general control channel (not shown), which may indicate the frequency location of each downlink spectrum segment 1906 and each uplink spectrum segment 1910 to the communication nodes 1804, Can be provided. The number of downlink spectrum segments 1906 and uplink spectrum segments 1910 may change over a common control channel, depending on the traffic conditions or network requirements that make it necessary to reallocate bandwidth. In addition, downlink spectrum segments 1906 and uplink spectrum segments 1910 need not be grouped separately. For example, the general control channel may identify the downlink spectrum segment 1906 that is followed by the uplink spectrum segment 1910 in an alternating manner, or in any other combination that may or may not be symmetric. It is further noted that instead of utilizing a general control channel, multiple control channels may be used, each identifying a frequency location of one or more spectral segments and a type of spectral segment (i.e., uplink or downlink).

In addition, while downstream channel band 1944 and upstream channel band 1946 are shown occupying a single close frequency band, in other embodiments, two or more upstream and / or two or more downstream channel bands are available May be employed depending on the spectrum and / or communication standards employed. The frequency channels of uplink spectrum segments 1910 and downlink spectrum segments 1906 may be transmitted over a 4G or 5G voice and data protocol such as the DOCSIS 2.0 or higher standard protocol, the WiMAX standard protocol, the UWB protocol, the 802.11 standard protocol, , ≪ / RTI > and / or other standard communication protocols. In addition to protocols conforming to current standards, any of these protocols may be modified to work with the system shown. For example, 802.11 protocols or other protocols may be used to provide collision detection / multiple access over a wider area (e.g., enabling devices communicating over a particular frequency channel to listen to each other) And / or a separate data channel. In various embodiments, both the uplink frequency channels of uplink spectrum segments 1910 and the downlink frequency channels of downlink spectrum segments 1906 are all formatted according to the same communication protocol. However, alternatively, two or more different protocols may be used, for example, to support uplink frequency channels of one or more uplink spectrum segments 1910 and one or more uplink frequency channels of one or more uplink spectrum segments 1910 to be compatible with and / May be employed on both downlink frequency channels of downlink spectrum segments 1906. [

It should be noted that the modulated signals may be collected from different original / unique spectral segments for aggregation into spectrum 1942. In this manner, a first portion of the uplink frequency channels of the uplink spectrum segment 1910 may include a second portion of uplink frequency channels of the uplink spectrum segment 1910 that was frequency transformed from one or more of the different original / unique spectral segments Respectively. Likewise, the first portion of the downlink frequency channels of the downlink spectrum segment 1906 is adjacent to the second portion of the downlink frequency channels of the downlink spectrum segment 1906 that were frequency transformed from the one or more different original / unique spectral segments can do. For example, one or more 2.4 GHz 802.11 channels that have been frequency translated may be adjacent to one or more 5.8 GHz 802.11 channels that have also been frequency translated to a spectrum 1942 centered at 80 GHz. Each of the spectral segments is transformed from the arrangement of each spectral segment in spectrum 1942 back to the original / unique spectral segment of each spectral segment, And may have an associated reference signal, such as a pilot signal that may be used to generate an oscillator signal.

Referring now to FIG. 19E, there is shown a schematic diagram 1950 illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting example of a frequency spectrum. In particular, spectral segment selection as discussed with the signal processing performed on the spectral segments selected by the transceivers 1930 of the communication node 1840A or the transceiver 1932 of the communication nodes 1804B through 1804E is provided. As shown, a specific uplink frequency portion 1958 comprising one of the uplink spectrum segments 1910 of the uplink frequency channel band 1946 and downlink spectrum segments 1944 of the downlink channel frequency band 1944 A particular downlink frequency portion 1956 comprising one of the uplink frequency channel band 1946 and the downlink frequency band 1944 is selected to be passed by channel selective filtering and the remaining portions of the uplink frequency channel band 1946 and downlink channel frequency band 1944 are filtered out Is attenuated to mitigate the adverse effects of processing the desired frequency channels passed by the transceiver. It should be noted that although a single specific uplink spectrum segment 1910 and a particular downlink spectrum segment 1906 are shown as being selected, two or more uplink and / or downlink spectrum segments may be passed in other embodiments do.

Although transceivers 1930 and 1932 may operate based on fixed static channel filters with uplink and downlink frequency portions 1958 and 1956, as described above, the transceivers 1930 and 1932 may be used to dynamically configure transceivers 1930 and 1932 for a particular frequency selection. In this manner, upstream and downstream frequency channels of corresponding spectral segments may be dynamically allocated to various communication nodes by the macro base station 1802 or other network element of the communication network to optimize performance by the distributed antenna system .

Referring now to FIG. 19F, there is shown a schematic diagram 1960 illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting example of a frequency spectrum. In particular, spectrum 1962 is a frequency spectrum of the uplink or downlink spectrum 1960 after the modulated signals are frequency converted (e.g., via upconversion or downconversion) from one or more original / unique spectral segments to spectrum 1962 Is shown for a distributed antenna system that carries modulated signals occupying frequency channels of the segments.

As discussed above, two or more different communication protocols may be employed to communicate upstream and downstream data. When two or more different protocols are employed, the first subset of downlink frequency channels of the downlink spectrum segment 1906 may be occupied by the modulated signals frequency-transformed in accordance with the first standard protocol and the same or different The second subset of the downlink frequency channels of the downlink spectrum segment 1910 may be occupied by the modulated signals frequency-converted according to a second standard protocol different from the first standard protocol. Similarly, a first subset of the uplink frequency channels of the uplink spectrum segment 1910 may be received by the system for demodulation according to the first standard protocol and may be received by the system and used for uplink frequency (s) of the same or different uplink spectrum segment 1910 The second subset of channels may be received according to a second standard protocol for demodulation according to a second standard protocol different from the first standard protocol.

In the illustrated example, the downstream channel band 1944 comprises a first plurality of downstream spectral segments, represented by separate spectral shapes of the first type, indicative of the use of the first communication protocol. The downstream channel band 1944 'includes a second plurality of downstream spectral segments represented by separate spectral shapes of a second type indicative of use of a second communication protocol. Likewise, the upstream channel band 1946 includes a first plurality of upstream spectral segments, represented by separate spectral shapes of a first type indicating the use of the first communication protocol. The upstream channel band 1946 'includes a second plurality of upstream spectral segments represented by separate spectral shapes of a second type indicative of the use of the second communication protocol. These separate spectral shapes are considered to be placeholders for the frequency assignment of each individual spectral segment with associated reference signals, control channels and / or clock signals. It should be noted that although the individual channel bandwidth is shown to be approximately the same for the first and second types of channels, the upstream and downstream channel bands 1944, 1944 ', 1946 and 1946' may be different bandwidths. In addition, the spectral segments in these channel bands of the first and second types may be different bandwidths depending on the available spectrum and / or communication standards employed.

Referring now to FIG. 19g, there is shown a schematic diagram 1970 illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting example of a frequency spectrum. In particular, some of the spectra 1942 or 1962 of Figures 19d-19f may be modified (e.g., through up-conversion or down-conversion) by modulating the form of channel signals whose frequencies have been converted from one or more of the original / unique spectral segments ≪ / RTI > is shown for a distributed antenna system that transmits signals.

Portion 1972 includes a portion of the downlink or uplink spectrum segments 1906 and 1910, which are represented in spectral form and represent a portion of the bandwidth reserved for the control channel, the reference signal, and / or the clock signal. The spectral shape 1974 represents, for example, a control channel separate from the reference signal 1979 and the clock signal 1978. It should be noted that clock signal 1978 is shown in a spectral shape representing a sinusoidal signal that may require adjustment in the form of a more conventional clock signal. In other embodiments, however, a conventional clock signal may be transmitted as a modulated carrier wave by modulating the reference signal 1979 through amplitude modulation or other modulation techniques that preserve the phase of the carrier for use as a phase reference. In other embodiments, the clock signal may be transmitted by modulating the other carrier or as another signal. It is further noted that both the clock signal 1978 and the reference signal 1979 are shown as being outside the frequency band of the control channel 1974. [

In another example, portion 1975 includes a portion of downlink or uplink spectral segments 1906 and 1910, represented as part of a spectral shape that represents a portion of the bandwidth reserved for the control channel, reference signal, and / or clock signal . Spectral shape 1976 represents a control channel having instructions including digital data to modulate the reference signal through amplitude modulation, amplitude shift keying, or other modulation techniques that preserve the phase of the carrier for use as a phase reference. Clock signal 1978 is shown as being outside the frequency band of spectrum shape 1976. [ The reference signal modulated by the control channel commands is actually the subcarrier of the control channel and is in-band with respect to the control channel. Once again, the clock signal 1978 is shown in a spectral shape representing a sinusoidal signal, but in other embodiments, a typical clock signal may be transmitted as a modulated carrier or other signal. In this case, instructions of the control channel may be used to modulate the clock signal 1978 instead of the reference signal.

Through the modulation of the reference signal in the form of a continuous wave (CW) in which the phase distortion of the receiver is again corrected during the frequency conversion of the downlink or uplink spectral segments 1906 and 1910 to the original / unique spectral segment of the reference signal 1976) are taken into consideration. The control channel 1976 may be used to transmit commands such as network operations, operational and management traffic, and other control data between network elements of the distributed antenna system, such as pulse amplitude modulation, binary phase shift keying, Can be modulated with a strong modulation such as a modulation scheme. In various embodiments, the control data may include, without limitation:

● Status information indicating the online status, offline status, and network performance parameters of each network element.

● Network device information, such as module names and addresses, hardware and software versions, device capacities, and so on.

Spectral information such as frequency transform coefficients, channel spacing, guard bands, uplink / downlink assignments, uplink and downlink channel selections, and the like.

Environmental measurements such as climatic conditions, image data, power outage information, and direct line obstructions.

In a further example, the control channel data may be transmitted over ultra wideband (UWB) signaling. The control channel data may be transmitted by generating radio energy in specific time intervals and occupying a larger bandwidth through pulse location or time modulation and / or by encoding the polarity or amplitude of the UWB pulses and / or by using orthogonal pulses . In particular, UWB pulses may be transmitted sporadically at relatively low wave rates to support time or position modulation, but may also be transmitted at rates up to the inverse of the UWB pulse bandwidth. In this way, the control channel can be spread over the UWB spectrum without interfering with the CW transmissions of the reference signal and / or the clock signal, which can occupy the in-band parts of the UWB spectrum of the control channel with relatively low power.

Referring now to FIG. 19h, a block diagram 1980 illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a transmitter is shown. A transmitter 1982 is shown for use with a receiver 1981 and a digital control channel processor 1995, for example, in a transceiver such as the transceiver 1933 provided with Figure 19c. As shown, the transmitter 1982 includes an analog front end 1986, a clock signal generator 1989, a local oscillator 1992, a mixer 1996, and a transmitter front end 1984.

The amplified first modulated signal at the first carrier frequency, along with the reference signals, control channels and / or clock signals, is coupled from the amplifier 1938 to the analog front end 1986. The analog front end 1986 includes one or more filters or other frequency selectors that separate the control channel signal 1987, the clock reference signal 1978, the pilot signal 1991, and one or more selected channel signals 1994 .

The digital control channel processor 1995 performs digital signal processing on the control channel to recover instructions from the control channel signal 1987, for example, through demodulation of digital control channel data. The clock signal generator 1989 generates a clock signal 1990 from the clock reference signal 1978 to synchronize the timing of digital control channel processing by the digital control channel processor 1995. In embodiments where the clock reference signal 1978 is a sinusoid, the clock signal generator 1989 may provide amplification and limiting to generate a conventional clock signal or other timing signal from the sinusoid. In embodiments where the clock reference signal 1978 is a modulated carrier signal such as a reference or pilot signal, or other carrier modulation, the clock signal generator 1989 provides demodulation to generate a conventional clock signal or other timing signal .

In various embodiments, the control channel signal 1987 may be a digitally modulated signal in the range of frequencies separated by the pilot signal 1991 and the clock reference 1988, or as a modulation of the pilot signal 1991 . In operation, the digital control channel processor 1995 provides demodulation of the control channel signal 1987 to extract the instructions contained therein to generate the control signal 1993. In particular, the control signal 1993 generated by the digital control channel processor 1995 in response to commands received over the control channel transforms the frequencies of the channel signals 1994 for transmission over the air interface 1811 May be used to select specific channel signals (1994) with the corresponding pilot signal (1991) and / or clock reference (1988) used. In situations where the control channel signal 1987 carries instructions through the modulation of the pilot signal 1991, the pilot signal 1991 may be transmitted to the digital control channel processor 1995 rather than to the analog front end 1986 as shown It can be extracted through the < / RTI >

The digital control channel processor 1995 may be a microprocessor, microcontroller, digital signal processor, microcomputer, central processing unit, field programmable gate array, programmable logic device, state machine, logic network, Digital-to-analog converters, and / or any device that manipulates (analog and / or digital) signals based on hard coding of circuitry and / or operational instructions. The processing module may be a memory and / or an integrated memory element, module, processing circuit, and / or processing unit, which may be a single memory device, a plurality of memory devices and / or other circuitry of the processing module, . Such memory devices may be read-only memory, random access memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, static memory, dynamic memory, flash memory, cache memory, and / or any device that stores digital information. If the processing module includes more than one processing device, the processing devices may be centrally located (e.g., coupled together directly via a wired and / or wireless bus structure) or distributed locally (e.g., It is possible to do cloud computing through indirect coupling via the area network and / or the wide area network). The memory and / or memory element that stores the corresponding operating instructions may be a microprocessor, microcontroller, digital signal processor, microcomputer, central processing unit, field programmable gate array, programmable logic device, state machine, logic circuit, , Analog-to-digital converters, digital-to-analog converters, or other devices, or external to them. Hard-coded and / or operative instructions corresponding to at least some of the steps and / or functions described herein may be stored by a memory element and executed by a processing module, such memory device or memory element may be implemented as an article of manufacture It should be further noted that this can be achieved.

A local oscillator 1992 generates a local oscillator signal 1997 utilizing a pilot signal 1991 to reduce distortion during the frequency conversion process. In various embodiments, the pilot signal 1991 includes channel signals 1994 at a carrier frequency associated with the placement of channel signals 1994 in the spectrum of a distributed antenna system for transmission to fixed or mobile communication devices To the local oscillator signal 1997 to produce a local oscillator signal 1997 at the appropriate frequency and phase to convert it into the original / intrinsic spectral segments of the channel signals 1994. In this case, the local oscillator 1992 may employ bandpass filtering and / or other signal conditioning to generate a sinusoidal local oscillator signal 1997 that preserves the frequency and phase of the pilot signal 1991. In other embodiments, the pilot signal 1991 has a frequency and phase that can be used to derive the local oscillator signal 1997. In such a case, the local oscillator 1992 may transmit channel signals (1994) at a carrier frequency associated with the placement of the channel signals (1994) in the spectrum of the distributed antenna system for transmission to fixed or mobile communication devices Frequency enhancement or other frequency synthesis based on the pilot signal 1991 to produce a local oscillator signal 1997 at the appropriate frequency and phase to convert it to the original / unique spectral segments of the channel signals 1994 It adopts.

The mixer 1996 frequency shifts the channel signals 1994 based on the local oscillator signal 1997 to obtain frequency-converted channel signals 1998 in corresponding original / unique spectral segments of the channel signals 1994, Lt; / RTI > Although a single mixing step is shown, multiple mixing steps may be employed to shift the channel signals to the baseband and / or one or more intermediate frequencies as part of the total frequency conversion. Transmitter Xmtr front end 1984 provides frequency transformed channel signals 1998 in the range of communication nodes 1804B through 1804E as free space wireless signals to one or more mobile Or to wirelessly transmit to fixed-line communications devices.

Referring now to Figure 19i, a block diagram 1985 is shown illustrating one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a receiver. A receiver 1981 is shown for use with a transmitter 1982 and a digital control channel processor 1995, for example, in a transceiver, such as the transceiver 1933 provided with Figure 19c. As shown, the receiver 1981 includes an analog receiver (RCVR) front end 1983, a local oscillator 1992, and a mixer 1996. The digital control channel processor 1995 operates under the control of commands from the control channel to generate a pilot signal 1991, a control channel signal 1987 and a clock reference signal 1978.

The control signal 1993 generated by the digital control channel processor 1995 in response to commands received via the control channel is used to convert the frequencies of the channel signals 1994 for reception via the air interface 1811 May be used to select specific channel signals (1994) with the corresponding pilot signal (1991) and / or clock reference (1988). The analog receiver front end 1983 includes a low noise amplifier and one or more filters or other frequency selectors to receive one or more selected channel signals 1994 under the control of the control signal 1993.

A local oscillator 1992 generates a local oscillator signal 1997 utilizing a pilot signal 1991 to reduce distortion during the frequency conversion process. In various embodiments, the local oscillator employs bandpass filtering and / or other signal conditioning, frequency division, frequency enhancement, or other frequency synthesis to generate local oscillator signals (e. G. 1997) to generate channel signals 1994, pilot signals 1991, control channel signals 1987 and clock reference signals 1978 for transmission to other communication nodes 1804A through 1804E in a distributed antenna system Frequency is converted into spectrum. In particular, the mixer 1996 frequency shifts the channel signals 1994 based on the local oscillator signal 1997 to an amplifier 1938, to a transceiver 1936A for amplification and retransmission, and to a transceiver 1936A for further retransmission To the communication node 1804A or to the upstream communication nodes 1804B through 1804E via the base station 1802 and to the base station such as the macro base station 1802 again for processing. Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > 1998 < / RTI > One more, a single mixing step is shown, but multiple mixing steps may be employed to shift the channel signals to the baseband and / or one or more intermediate frequencies as part of the total frequency conversion.

Referring now to FIG. 20A, there is shown a block diagram 2000 of an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a coupling device according to various aspects described herein. In particular, a coupling device is shown that includes a receiver 2010 that receives an RF signal 2012 that conveys first data from a transmitting device. Magnetic coupler 2002 magnetically couples RF signal 2012 to transmission medium 2006 as an induced electromagnetic wave 2008 bound by the outer surface of transmission medium 2006 to propagate along transmission medium 2006. [ . It should be noted that although the transmission medium 2006 is shown only on one side of the magnetic coupler 2002, the transmission medium 2006 may traverse the two sides of the magnetic coupler 2002. [ Although not shown in detail, in this case, a guided wave similar to the inductive electromagnetic wave 2008 can be launched in the opposite direction on the transmission medium 2006 from the other side of the magnetic coupler 2002.

In one embodiment, transmission medium 2006 is an insulated wire or wire, such as a cable or a non-insulated wire. However, transmission medium 2006 may include any of the transmission media 125 described above.

In the illustrated embodiment, the magnetic coupler 2002 is a rectangular cavity that launches an inductive electromagnetic wave 2008 that propagates along a transmission medium through an HE ₁₁ mode, TM ₀₀ mode, or other TM _0m mode, and / And includes a resonator. The cavity resonator may resonate at different frequencies and generate electric fields and magnetic fields, for example, according to the TE ₁₀ mode, but different modes may be created based on the specific configuration of the cavity resonator and the frequency of the RF signal 2012 have. In particular, receiver 2010 may include a coaxial connector and an antenna (not shown in detail) in a cavity resonator that emits RF signal 2012 in a cavity resonator. Alternatively, the receiver may include a dielectric waveguide, such as a waveguide or dielectric stub, such as a hollow waveguide that induces an RF signal 2012 as an induced electromagnetic wave into the cavity resonator. Although the receiving portion is shown as having a cylindrical shape, other shapes are likewise possible, especially in situations where the receiving portion 2010 is implemented as a waveguide.

Following together with the examples provided above, the cavity resonator is an H-field that induces an induced electromagnetic wave 2008 on the transmission medium 2006 through magnetic coupling, for example, through standing waves at or near the resonant frequency ) To generate the RF signal 2012. [ In a particular embodiment, the cavity resonator is a section of a rectangular waveguide having a cut-off frequency slightly exceeding the carrier frequency of the RF signal 2012, or otherwise exceeding some or all of the range of frequencies present in the RF signal 2012 . Consider an example in which the carrier frequency of the RF signal 2012 is 3 GHz. The cut-off frequency corresponding to the TE ₁₀ mode or other mode of the cavity resonator may range from -3.01 GHz to 3.5 GHz, which allows the cavity resonator to operate with less than a fraction of the cut-off of the electromagnetic mode of the resonator. It should be noted that in other embodiments, frequencies exceeding the cutoff frequency may be employed.

Although the foregoing invention has focused on the operation of the magnetic coupling device as a transmitter for launching the waveguide 2008 on the transmission medium 2006, it should be understood that the same coupler design may, for example, And may be used as a receiver for extracting from the transmission medium 2006. In this mode of operation, the magnetic coupler 2002 is coupled to an outer surface of the transmission medium 2006 and includes an inductive electromagnetic wave 2008 that transmits first data from a transmission device propagating along the transmission medium 2006 And disengages a part thereof with magnetism by electromagnetic waves. The receiving unit 2010 receives electromagnetic waves and provides electromagnetic waves to devices such as a receiver or a transceiver.

In addition, while the prior art has focused on the operation of the magnetic coupler with a cut-off frequency that exceeds the carrier frequency of the RF signal 2012, in other designs, the magnetic coupler may be used Depending on the inductive wave mode or modes in use, the characteristics of the magnetic coupler 2002, and the transmission medium 2006, whether used in or used for both, and / or for other factors, Lt; / RTI > at a carrier frequency of < RTI ID = 0.0 >

Although the magnetic coupler is described and illustrated as a rectangular cavity resonator, other configurations of cavity resonators such as cylindrical cavity resonators or other shaped cavity resonators may be employed. Additionally or alternatively, the magnetic coupler may include an inductive resonator, such as a helical coil resonator or other inductive resonator, a capacitive resonator, or other magnetic coupling device.

In the illustrated embodiment, the coupling device comprises a cap, such as a lead, cover or other housing, having a dielectric portion 2004 that covers the magnetic coupler 2002 and secures a portion of the transmission medium 2006 to the magnetic coupler 2002 . In addition, the cap further includes a reflective plate 2014 that operates either alone or in combination with the dielectric portion 2004 to reduce the emissions from the magnetic coupler 2002. The reflective plate 2014 may be made of metal or other conductive material, or may have a metal or conductive surface. Although the reflective plate 2014 is shown as having a rectangular shape, in particular in situations where the magnetic coupler 2002 has a different shape, or includes differently shaped mounting flanges and / or the dielectric portion 2004 has a different shape, Other shapes are possible.

As shown, the dielectric portion 2004 includes a slot for securing the transmission medium 2006 to the magnetic coupler 2002. The dielectric portion 2004 is formed from a dielectric material 2004 to a magnetic coupling portion 2002 from the magnetic coupler 2002 in the orientation shown for reflection by the reflective plate 2014 downwardly toward the magnetic coupling portion 2002, Such as a cellular dielectric having a cellular structure that is aligned to facilitate transfer of the fields upward through the dielectric layer 2004. In the illustrated embodiment, the reflective plate 2014 is spaced apart from the magnetic coupler 2002, corresponding to substantially one-half of the wavelength of the RF signal 2012, when crossing the dielectric portion 2004 . As used herein, substantially one-half of the wavelength corresponds to a value in the range of about 10% of? / 2. In this way, the phase of the magnetic field reflected by the reflecting plate 2014 to the top face of the magnetic coupling portion 2002 again is substantially one wavelength from the phase of the magnetic field generated by the magnetic coupling at that time. In this manner, the generated magnetic field and the reflected magnetic field are added to the transmission medium 2006 for constructive coupling of the RF signal as inductive electromagnetic waves through the desired mode.

It should be noted that other dielectric materials, such as Teflon or other dielectrics, may likewise be used in the construction of the dielectric portion 2004. It should be noted, however, that for a given resonant frequency, the selection of the dielectric material can affect the dimensions of the coupler and, in particular, the thickness of the dielectric portion 2004, taking into account differences in propagation speed in different materials do. Although the cap is shown as having a rectangular shape, other shapes are possible, particularly in situations where the magnetic coupler 2002 is of a different shape or includes a mounting flange of a different shape.

Moreover, although specific coupler configurations are shown, other configurations are likewise possible. The distance between the magnetic coupler 2002 and the reflection plate 2014 is set so that the distance from the center of the wire to the reflection plate 2014 and the magnetic coupler 2002 is substantially one half of the wavelength, And the dielectric portion 2004 supports the transmission medium 2006 at an intermediate point. In this design, " null " energy is placed at the center of the dielectric block along the longitudinal axis of the wire. The effect is to place more energy on the surface of the wire and / or on the insulation jacket of the wire (if present), rather than on the center of the conductor where the energy dissipates. The energy on the top of the wire will support modes of HE ₁₁ mode, TM ₀₀ mode or other TM _0m modes, and / or one or more other modes of wave guidance along the transmission medium 2006, . In this case, the diameter of the wire should be of sufficient size to create a beneficial energy distribution at the operating frequency of the coupler, for example, so that sufficient energy is generated in the top and bottom regions of the wire to support the desired propagation mode. It should be noted that while frequencies below 5 GHz may be supported by this design for use with wires such as insulated wires having diameters of one centimeter or more, other frequencies and / or wire sizes and configurations are likewise possible do.

Referring now to FIG. 20B, there is shown a schematic diagram 2020 of an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of an electromagnetic distribution according to various aspects described herein. In particular, the electromagnetic distribution is provided in two dimensions for a transmitting device comprising a coupling device 2022 comprising a magnetic coupler 2002 or other magnetic coupling device. The coupling device 2022 couples electromagnetic waves to the transmission medium 2006 for propagation as a guided wave along the outer surface of the transmission medium 2006.

The coupling device 2022 forms an inductive electromagnetic wave that propagates through at least one asymmetric mode and / or in a symmetric mode that is coupled to and / or otherwise induced by the surface of the transmission medium 2006. It is noted that the graphical representations of the guided waves are provided only to illustrate one example of guided wave coupling and propagation. Actual fields and magnetic fields generated as a result of such wave propagation are not limited to the frequencies employed, the design and / or configuration of the coupling device 2022, the dimensions and composition of the transmission medium 2006, Surface properties and electromagnetic properties of the surrounding environment.

Referring now to Figures 20c, 20d, 20e and 20f, there are pictorial illustrations 2030, 2040 (corresponding to Figure 20) corresponding to illustrative, non-limiting embodiments of coupling device components in accordance with various aspects described herein. , 2050 and 2060 are shown.

20C, there is shown a rectangular cavity resonator 2032 that includes a stub antenna 2036 that radiates electromagnetic fields in the cavity. The cavity resonator also includes a rectangular mounting flange 2034 including ten mounting holes for attaching a cap including a dielectric portion and a reflective plate.

20D, a Teflon cap dielectric portion 2044 and a rectangular cavity resonator 2042, including slots across which a cap dielectric portion 2044 for receiving a transmission medium 125, such as an insulating or exposed wire, Lt; / RTI > is shown. As shown, the cap has a reflective plate to be removed. The dielectric portion 2044 and the reflecting plate are fixable to the rectangular cavity resonator 2042 through mounting bolts.

20E, a reflective plate 2052 is shown for use with, for example, a rectangular cavity resonator 2042 and a dielectric portion 2044. FIG. Reflective plate 2052 is constructed of a metal, such as aluminum alloy or other conductive metal, to reduce unwanted emissions from the magnetic coupler and improve coupling to transmission medium 1806. As shown, the reflective plate 2052 includes ten mounting holes that engage similar mounting holes in the rectangular cavity resonator 1922 and the Teflon cap 1924.

20F, a coupling device comprising a coaxial interface port for receiving and transmitting and a rectangular cavity resonator 2062 having a cylindrical dielectric portion 2064 and a circular mounting flange for coupling to a top reflector plate 2066, do. Cylindrical dielectric portion 2064 includes slots that obliquely intersect a cylindrical dielectric portion 2064 for receiving transmission medium 125, such as an insulating or exposed wire. As shown, the cylindrical dielectric portion 2064 is secured to the rectangular cavity resonator 2062 through mounting bolts.

Referring now to FIG. 20g, a flow diagram of an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of a method is shown. In particular, the method is provided for use with one or more of the functions and features provided with Figs. 1 to 19 and Figs. 20A to 20F. Step 2072 includes receiving a first electromagnetic wave carrying the first data. Step 2074 includes launching a first electromagnetic wave through the cavity resonator on the wire as an induced electromagnetic wave that is bound by the outer surface of the wire, wherein the dielectric section holds the wire adjacent the cavity resonator and the reflector plate ≪ / RTI >

In various embodiments, the cavity resonator is further responsive to the radio frequency signal by operating below the cut-off frequency of the cavity resonator and creating a magnetic field that induces induced electromagnetic radiation on the transmission medium through magnetic coupling. The signal may include an electrical signal supplied to an antenna of a cavity resonator that emits a signal into the cavity in a cavity resonator that induces an induced electromagnetic wave on an outer surface of the transmission medium.

For purposes of simplicity of explanation, although each process is depicted and described as a series of blocks in Figure 20g, some blocks may occur in different orders and / or concurrently with other blocks as shown and described herein , It should be understood and appreciated that the claimed subject matter is not limited by the order of the blocks. Moreover, not all illustrated blocks may be required to implement the methods described herein.

21, a block diagram of a computing environment in accordance with various aspects described herein is shown. To provide additional environments for various embodiments of the embodiments described herein, FIG. 21 and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief, general description of a suitable computing environment 2100 in which the various embodiments of the present inventive subject matter may be implemented . Although the embodiments have been described above in the general context of computer-executable instructions that may be run on one or more computers, those skilled in the art will appreciate that embodiments may also be implemented in combination with other program modules and / Will recognize.

In general, program modules include routines, programs, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, the methods of the present invention may be implemented in a variety of computing environments, including single processor or multiprocessor computer systems, minicomputers, mainframe computers, as well as personal computers, handheld computing devices, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, , Other computer system configurations, each of which may be operatively coupled to one or more associated devices.

As used herein, processing circuitry includes not only a processor, but also an application-specific integrated circuit, a digital logic circuit, a state machine, a microprocessor, and the like that process input signals or data and generate output signals or data in response to input signals or data. And other special purpose circuits such as programmable gate arrays or other circuits. It should be noted that any of the functions and features described herein in connection with the operation of the processor may be performed similarly by the processing circuitry.

As used in the claims, the terms " first, " second, " third, " and the like, unless otherwise specified by context, are for clarity only, Do not suggest. For example, "first decision", "second decision" and "third decision" do not indicate or imply that the first decision is made before the second decision, and vice versa.

Embodiments shown in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in a distributed computing environment in which certain tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

Computing devices typically include a variety of media, which may include a computer-readable storage medium and / or a communication medium, wherein the two terms are used differently here as follows. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available storage medium that can be accessed by a computer and includes both volatile and non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and not limitation, computer readable storage media can be implemented in connection with any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, program modules, structured data or unstructured data.

The computer readable storage medium can be any type of storage medium such as random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, (CD-ROM), digital versatile disk (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices or other types of and / But are not limited to, non-volatile media. In this regard, the term " type " or " non-transient " as applied to a storage device, memory or computer readable medium is intended to exclude only the transient signaling itself as modifiers, And not to give up rights to

The computer-readable storage medium may be accessed by one or more local or remote computing devices, for example through access requests, queries or other data retrieval protocols, for various operations on information stored by the medium.

Communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other structured or unstructured data in a modulated data signal, e.g., a data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, Information transmission or transmission medium. The term " modulated data signal " or signals refers to a signal that has one or more of its set of features and that is changed in this manner to encode information in one or more signals. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media.

Referring again to FIG. 21, a base station (e.g., base station devices 1504, macro cell site 1502 or base stations 1614) or a central office (e.g., central office 1501 or 1611) An exemplary environment 2100 is shown for transmitting and receiving signals, at least in part or forming it. At least a portion of the exemplary environment 2100 may be used for the transmission devices 101 or 102. The exemplary environment may include a computer 2102, which includes a processing unit 2104, a system memory 2106, and a system bus 2108. The system bus 2108 couples system components including, but not limited to, system memory 2106 to the processing unit 2104. The processing unit 2104 may be any of a variety of commercially available processors. Dual microprocessors and other multiprocessor architectures may be employed as the processing unit 2104.

The system bus 2108 includes a memory bus (with or without a memory controller) that uses any of a variety of commercially available bus architectures, a peripheral bus, and some form of bus structure Architecture. The system memory 2106 includes a ROM 2110 and a RAM 2112. The basic input / output system (BIOS) may be stored in non-volatile memory such as ROM, erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), or EEPROM, and the BIOS may transfer information between elements within the computer 2102 Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > routines. ≪ / RTI > The RAM 2112 may also include a high speed RAM such as static RAM for data caching.

The computer 2102 further includes an internal hard disk drive (HDD) 2114 (e.g., EIDE, SATA) and the internal hard disk drive 2114 also includes an appropriate chassis (not shown), a magnetic floppy disk drive (E.g., for reading from or writing to a removable diskette 2118) and an optical disk drive 2120 (e.g., reading a CD-ROM disk 2122, For reading from or writing to other high capacity optical media). The hard disk drive 2114, magnetic disk drive 2116 and optical disk drive 2120 are connected to the system bus (not shown) by a hard disk drive interface 2124, a magnetic disk drive interface 2126 and an optical drive interface 2128, 2108. < / RTI > The interface 2124 for external drive implementations includes at least one or both of Universal Serial Bus (USB) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1394 interface technologies. Other external drive coupling techniques are within the considerations of the embodiments described herein.

The drives and their associated computer-readable storage media provide non-volatile storage of data, data structures, computer-executable instructions, and the like. For computer 2102, drives and storage medium accept storage of any data in a suitable digital format. Although the description of the computer-readable storage medium refers to a removable optical media such as a hard disk drive (HDD), a removable magnetic diskette, and a CD or DVD, the zip drives, magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, , And the like may also be used in an exemplary operating environment, and any such storage medium may also include computer-executable instructions for performing the methods described herein It should be understood by those skilled in the art.

A number of program modules may be stored in the drive 2130 and the RAM 2112, including the operating system 2130, one or more application programs 2132, other program modules 2134, and program data 2136. The operating system, applications, modules and / or data may also be cached in RAM 2112. The systems and methods described herein may be implemented using a variety of commercially available operating systems or combinations of operating systems. Examples of application programs 2132 that are implemented by the processing unit 2104 and may otherwise be executed include diversity selection decisions performed by the transmitting device 101 or 102. [

A user may enter commands and information into the computer 2102 via one or more wired / wireless input devices, such as a keyboard 2138 and a pointing device, such as a mouse 2140. Other input devices (not shown) may include a microphone, an infrared (IR) remote controller, a joystick, a game pad, a stylus pen, a touch screen, These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit 2104 via an input device interface 2142 that may be coupled to the system bus 2108, but may be a parallel port, an IEEE 1394 serial port, a game port, a universal serial bus ) Ports, IR interfaces, and so on.

A monitor 2144 or other type of display device may also be connected to the system bus 2108 via an interface, such as a video adapter 2146. [ In alternative embodiments, the monitor 2144 may also be coupled to any display device (e. G., A display device) to receive display information associated with the computer 2102 via any communication means, including via the Internet and a cloud- Such as a computer with a display, a smartphone, a tablet computer, etc.). In addition to the monitor 2144, the computer typically includes other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as speakers, printers,

Computer 2102 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections via wired and / or wireless communication to one or more remote computers, such as remote computer (s) 2148. [ The remote computer (s) 2148 can be a workstation, a server computer, a router, a personal computer, a portable computer, a microprocessor-based entertainment device, a peer device or other common network node, 2150, but typically includes many or all of the elements described in connection with the computer 2102. [ The depicted logical connections include wired / wireless connections to larger networks, such as a local area network (LAN) 2152 and / or a wide area network (WAN) These LAN and WAN networking environments are common in offices and corporations, and enable enterprise-wide computer networks such as intranets, all of which can connect to a global communications network such as the Internet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 2102 may be connected to the local network 2152 via a wired and / or wireless communication network interface or adapter 2156. The adapter 2156 enables wired or wireless communication with the LAN 2152 and may also include a wireless AP disposed thereon for communicating with the wireless adapter 2156. [

When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 2102 may include a modem 2158 or may be connected to a communications server on the WAN 2154 or may be connected to the communications server on the WAN 2154 to establish communications over the WAN 2154, There may be other means. A modem 2158, which may be internal or external and a wired or wireless device, may be connected to the system bus 2108 via an input device interface 2142. In a networked environment, program modules depicted for computer 2102, or portions thereof, may be stored in remote memory / storage device 2150. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary, and other means of establishing a communication link between the computers may be used.

The computer 2102 may be any wireless device or entity that is operably disposed in a wireless communication, for example, a printer, a scanner, a desktop and / or portable computer, a personal digital assistant, (E. G., A kiosk, news stand, toilet), and a portion of the equipment and the telephone. Which may be operable to communicate with a wireless device or entity. This may include wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) and Bluetooth® wireless technologies. Thus, the communication may be a predefined structure, such as a conventional network, and may simply be an ad hoc communication between at least two devices.

Wi-Fi allows you to connect to the Internet without a cable in your home sofa, in a hotel room, or in a meeting room at work. Wi-Fi is a wireless technology similar to that used in cellular telephones, allowing these devices, for example, computers, to send and receive data anywhere in the range of indoor and outdoor base stations. Wi-Fi networks use wireless technologies such as IEEE 802.11 (a, b, g, n, ac, and ag) to provide secure, reliable, and fast wireless connectivity. A Wi-Fi network can be used to connect computers to the Internet, wired networks (which can use either IEEE 802.3 or Ethernet). Wi-Fi networks operate, for example, in unlicensed 2.4 and 5 GHz radio bands or by products containing two bands (dual band), so that the networks can communicate with the base 10BaseT wired Ethernet network Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > performance. ≪ / RTI >

22 illustrates one exemplary embodiment 2200 of a mobile network platform 2210 that may implement and utilize one or more aspects of the subject matter disclosed herein. In one or more embodiments, mobile network platform 2210 may include base stations (e.g., base station devices 1504, macro cell site 1502 or base stations 1614) associated with the disclosed topic, a central office (E.g., central office 1501 or 1611), or signals transmitted and received by transmitting device 101 or 102. In general, the wireless network platform 2210 is configured to receive packet switched (PS) (e.g., Internet Protocol (IP), Frame Relay, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) Data), as well as components that enable control generation for networked wireless communications, such as nodes, gateways, interfaces, servers, or separate platforms. As a non-limiting example, the wireless network platform 2210 may be included in telecommunication carrier networks and carrier side components may be considered as discussed elsewhere herein. The mobile network platform 2210 may be coupled to the telephone network (s) 2240 (e.g., public switched telephone network (PSTN) or public land mobile network (PLMN)) or signaling system # (S) 2222 capable of interfacing CS traffic received from legacy networks, such as the SS 7 network 2270. Circuit-switched gateway node (s) 2222 may authorize and authenticate traffic (e.g., voice) originating from these networks. In addition, the CS gateway node (s) 2222 may access mobility or roaming data generated over the SS7 network 2270; For example, mobility data stored in a visited location register (VLR) that may reside in memory 2230. Further, CS gateway node (s) 2222 interfaces to CS-based traffic and signaling and PS gateway node (s) 2218. As an example, in the 3GPP UMTS network, the CS gateway node (s) 2222 may be at least partially realized in the gateway GPRS support node (s) (GGSN). The functions and specific operations of the CS gateway node (s) 2222, PS gateway node (s) 2218 and serving node (s) 2216 may be used by the wireless network technology used by the mobile network platform 2210 for remote communication (S) < / RTI >

In addition to receiving and processing CS-switched traffic and signaling, the PS gateway node (s) 2218 can authorize and authenticate PS-based data sessions with served mobile devices. (WANs) 2250, which may be implemented in a local area network (s) (LAN) that may also be interfaced with a mobile network platform 2210 via PS gateway node (s) (S) or content (s) exchanged with networks outside of the wireless network platform 2210, such as in-house network (s) 2270 and service network It will be noted that WANs 2250 and intra-enterprise network (s) 2260 may at least partially implement a service network (s) such as an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). Based on the wireless technology layer (s) available in the technology resource (s) 2217, the packet-switching gateway node (s) 2218 can generate packet data protocol contexts when a data session is established; Other data structures may also be created that allow routing of the packetized data. To do this, in one aspect, the PS gateway node (s) 2218 may include a tunnel interface (e. G., A gateway interface) 2218 that may enable packetized communication with a separate wireless network (s) For example, a tunnel end gateway (TTG) in the 3GPP UMTS network (s) (not shown).

The wireless network platform 2210 is also configured to transmit the data stream received via the PS gateway node (s) 2218 based on the available wireless technology layer (s) in the description resource (s) 2217. In an embodiment 2200, (S) 2216 that carry various packetized flows of packets. It should be noted that in case of the technology resource (s) 2217, which depend mainly on CS communication, the server node (s) can deliver traffic without depending on the PS gateway node (s) 2218; For example, the server node (s) may at least partially implement a mobile switching center. As an example, in a 3GPP UMTS network, serving node (s) 2216 may be implemented in a serving GPRS support node (s) (SGSN).

For wireless technologies that use packetized communications, the server (s) 2214 of the wireless network platform 2210 may execute a number of applications that may generate a plurality of separate packetized data streams or flows And can manage (e.g., schedule, queue, format ...) such flows. Such application (s) may include additional functionality in standard services (e.g., authorization settings, billing, customer support, etc.) provided by wireless network platform 2210. The data streams (e.g., the content (s) that are part of the voice call or data session) are sent to the PS gateway node (s) 2218 for authorization / authentication and initiation of the data session, (S) 2216, as shown in FIG. In addition to the application server, the server (s) 2214 may include a utility server (s), which may implement other security mechanisms as well as a rights-setting server, an operational and maintenance server, A secure server, etc. (S) 2222 and the PS gateway node 2218, in addition to authorization and authentication procedures that can be specified by the CS gateway node (s) 2222 and the PS gateway node 2218. In one aspect, the security server (s) And protects the communication served through platform 2210. Moreover, the rights configuration server (s) may provide services from external network (s), such as networks operated by separate service providers; For example, a WAN 2250 or Global Positioning System (GPS) network (s) (not shown). The rights configuration server (s) may also include a wireless network platform 2210, such as the distributed antenna networks shown in FIG. 1 (s) that improves wireless service coverage by providing more network coverage (e.g., Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > and / or < / RTI > The relay devices, such as those shown in Figures 7, 8, and 9, also improve network coverage to improve the subscriber service experience by the UE 2275.

It will be noted that the server (s) 2214 may include one or more processors configured to provide at least a portion of the functionality of the macro network platform 2210. To this end, one or more processors may execute code instructions stored in memory 2230, for example. It should be understood that the server (s) 2214 may include a content manager 2215 that operates in substantially the same manner as described above.

In an exemplary embodiment 2200, the memory 2230 may store information related to the operation of the wireless network platform 2210. Other operational information includes rights setting information of mobile devices served through the wireless platform network 2210, subscriber databases; (S) consistent with communication protocols for the operation of heterogeneous wireless devices, or wireless, technology layers; application intelligence, tariffs (eg, promotional rates, flat rate programs, coupon delivery campaigns); And the like. The memory 2230 may also store information from at least one of the telephone network 2240, the WAN 2250, the intra-enterprise network 2270, or the SS7 network 2260. In an aspect, memory 2230 may be accessed as part of a data storage component or as remotely connected memory storage.

To provide an environment for various aspects of the disclosed subject matter, FIG. 22 and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief, general description of a suitable environment in which the various aspects of the disclosed subject matter may be implemented. Although the subject matter has been described above in the general context of computer-executable instructions of a computer program running on a computer and / or computer, those skilled in the art will recognize that the disclosed subject matter can also be performed in combination with other program modules. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks and / or implement particular abstract data types.

23 shows an exemplary embodiment of a communication device 2300. [ The communication device 2300 may serve as an exemplary embodiment of devices such as mobile devices and in-building devices referred to by the present inventions (e.g., in Figures 15, 16A, and 16B) .

The communication device 2300 includes a wired and / or wireless transceiver 2302 (transceiver 2302 herein), a user interface (UI) 2304, a power supply 2314, a location tracking receiver 2316, a motion sensor 2318 ), An orientation sensor 2320, and a controller 2306 that manages their operations. Transceiver 2302 is a Bluetooth ^®, ZigBee ^®, the Wi-Fi, DECT or cellular communication technology the short-range or long-range radio access technology such as (Bluetooth ^® and ZigBee ^®, Bluetooth ^® Special Interest Group and ZigBee ^® Alliance respectively to mention some only Registered trademarks). Cellular technologies may include other next generation wireless communication technologies as cellular technologies evolve, as well as CDMA-IX, UMTS / HSDPA, GSM / GPRS, TDMA / EDGE, EV / DO, WiMAX, SDR, LTE . Transceiver 2302 may be configured to support circuit switched wireline access technologies (such as PSTN), packet switched wireline access technologies (such as TCP / IP, VoIP, etc.), and combinations thereof.

The UI 2304 may include a touch sensitive keypad 2308 having a navigation mechanism such as a roller ball, a joystick, a mouse or a navigation disc for manipulating the operations of the communication device 2300. Keypad 2308 is operating on the communication device 2300 by a radio interface that supports integrally a part or tethered wired interface or for example, Bluetooth ^® (such as a USB cable) of the housing assembly of the communication device 2300 Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 & The keypad 2308 may represent a numeric keypad commonly used by a QWERTY keypad with telephones and / or alphanumeric keys. The UI 2304 may further include a display 2310 such as a monochrome or color LCD (liquid crystal display), an OLED (organic light emitting diode) or other suitable display technology for conveying images to the end user of the communication device 2300 . In one embodiment in which display 2310 is touch sensitive, some or all of keypad 2308 may be provided through display 2310 having navigation features.

Display 2310 can also use touch screen technology to act as a user interface to detect user input. As a touch screen display, the communication device 2300 can be configured to provide a user interface with graphical user interface (GUI) elements that can be selected by the user with the touch of a finger. The touch screen display 2310 may be equipped with capacitive, resistive or other types of sensing techniques to detect how many surface areas of the user's fingers have been placed on a portion of the touch screen display. This sensing information can be used to control the operation of GUI elements or other functions of the user interface. The display 2310 can be an integral part of the housing assembly of the communication device 2300 or an independent device communicatively coupled to the communication device 2300 by a tethered wired or wireless interface (such as a cable).

UI 2304 may include an audio system 2312 that utilizes audio technology to deliver low volume audio (such as audio near the human ear) and high volume audio (such as a speakerphone for hands free operation) . Audio system 2312 may further include a microphone for receiving audible signals of the end user. Audio system 2312 may be used for speech recognition applications. The UI 2304 may further include an image sensor 2313, such as a solid-state image sensor (CCD) camera, which captures still or moving images.

Power supply 2314 may be a conventional power supply, such as a replaceable and rechargeable battery, a supply conditioning technique, and / or a charging system technique, such as a charging system technology, that provides energy to components of communication device 2300 to facilitate long- Of power management techniques. Alternatively or in combination, the charging system may utilize external power sources such as DC power supplied through a physical interface, such as a USB port or other suitable tethering techniques.

The location tracking receiver 2316 may be a GPS receiver that is capable of GPS positioning to identify the location of the communication device 2300 based on signals generated by a multitude of GPS satellites that can be used to facilitate location tracking services, Location tracking technology such as a system (GPS) receiver can be utilized. Motion sensor 2318 may utilize motion sensing technology, such as an accelerometer, gyroscope, or other suitable motion sensing technique, to detect motion of communication device 2300 in a three-dimensional space. Orientation sensor 2320 may be used to detect the orientation of the communication device 2300 (north, south, west, and east, as well as orientations such as magnetometers) to detect the orientations associated with degrees, minutes, or other suitable orientation metrics Sensing technology can be utilized.

Communication device (2300) is a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) and / or signal arrival time (TOA) or a propagation time (TOF) sensing techniques in cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth ^® or other wireless access by such as utilizing a measure The transceiver 2302 may also be used to determine proximity to points. Such as flash, ROM, RAM, SRAM, DRAM, or other storage technologies that control and process the data being supplied by the aforementioned components of the communication device 2300. For example, Such as a microprocessor with storage memory, a digital signal processor (DSP), a programmable gate array, an application specific integrated circuit, and / or a video processor.

Other components not shown in FIG. 23 may be used in one or more embodiments of the present inventive subject matter. For example, communication device 2300 may include a slot for adding or removing an identity module, such as a subscriber identity module (SIM) card or a general purpose integrated circuit card (UICC). SIM or UICC cards can be used to identify subscriber services, execute programs, store subscriber data, and the like.

As used herein, terms such as "storage", "storage device", "data storage", "data storage device", "database" and substantially any other information storage component related to the operation and functioning of the components, Memory elements " or " memory " or memory. The memory components described herein may be volatile memory or non-volatile memory, or may include non-volatile memory such as volatile memory, non-volatile memory, disk storage, and memory storage devices, and non- It can include everything. The non-volatile memory may also be included in a read only memory (ROM), a programmable ROM (PROM), an electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable ROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may include a random access memory (RAM) that operates as an external cache memory. The RAM can be any of several types including synchronous RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double speed SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchlink DRAM ) And Direct Rambus RAM (DRRAM). Additionally, the disclosed memory components of systems or methods herein are intended to encompass but not be limited to these and any other suitable forms of memory.

Moreover, it is to be understood that the disclosed subject matter is not limited to single-processor or multi-processor computer systems, mini-computing devices, mainframe computers as well as personal computers, hand-held computing (e.g., PDAs, Computer-based or programmable consumer or industrial electronics, and the like, which may be implemented in any computer system, including, but not limited to, computers, telephones, watches, tablet computers, netbook computers, The depicted aspects may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network; However, some aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented in stand-alone computers. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

Some of the embodiments described herein may also employ artificial intelligence (AI) to enable automating one or more of the features described herein. For example, artificial intelligence can be used in optional training controller 230 to evaluate and select candidate frequencies, modulation schemes, MIMO modes, and / or derived wave modes to maximize transmission efficiency. Embodiments (e.g., in connection with automatically identifying acquired cell sites that provide maximum value / benefit after being added to an existing communication network) employ various AI-based schemes to perform various embodiments thereof can do. Moreover, a classifier may be employed to determine the ranking or priority of each cell site in the acquired network. The classifier is a function that maps the input attribute vector x = (x1, x2, x3, x4, ..., xn) to the confidence that the input belongs to the class, that is, f (x) = reliability (class). This classification may employ stochastic and / or statistical based analysis (e.g., factoring analysis utilities and costs) to predict or infer an action that the user desires to be performed automatically. A support vector machine (SVM) is one example of a classifier that may be employed. The SVM works by finding the hypersurface in the space of possible inputs where the hypersurface attempts to divide the triggering references from the non-triggering events. Intuitively, this performs a classification correction on test data that is close to but not identical to the training data. Other directional and non-directional model classification approaches include, for example, Naive Bayes Bayesian networks, decision trees, neural networks, fuzzy logic models, and stochastic classification models that provide different independent patterns that may be employed do. The classification used here also includes the statistical regression used to develop the priority model.

As will be readily appreciated, one or more embodiments may be used not only explicitly trained (e.g., via general training data) (e.g., observing UE behavior, operator preferences, historical information, external information, etc.) Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > implicitly < / RTI > trained). For example, the SVMs may be configured through a learning or training step within the classifier generator and feature selection module. Thus, the classifier (s) may be used to automatically learn and perform a number of functions, wherein the plurality of functions may determine which of the acquired cell sites is beneficial to the number of maximum subscribers and / Based on predetermined criteria of whether to add a minimum value to existing communication network coverage, etc., but is not limited thereto.

As used in some contexts of the present application, in some embodiments, the terms "component", "system" refer to an entity associated with a computer-related entity, which may be either an operating device having one or more specific functions Or the like, and the entity may be any combination of hardware, hardware and software, software, or software in execution. By way of example, an element may be, but is not limited to, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable execution thread, computer executable instructions, a program, and / or a computer. To illustrate without limitation, both the application running on the server and the server may be components. One or more components may reside within a process and / or thread of execution, and the components may be localized on one computer and / or distributed between two or more computers. In addition, these components may execute from various computer readable media having various data structures stored thereon. The components may include one or more data packets (e.g., data from one component interacting with other components over a network such as the Internet and other systems via a local system, distributed system, and / or signal) Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > and / or < / RTI > Signals to other systems and to the Internet). As another example, a component may be a device having a specific function provided by mechanical parts operated by an electrical or electronic circuit operated by software or a firmware application executed by a processor, And may execute at least a portion of the software or firmware application. As another example, a component may be a device that provides a specific function through electronic components without mechanical parts, and the electronic components may include software to perform the functions of the electronic components, at least in part, A processor may be included. While various components are shown as discrete components, it will be understood that many components may be implemented as a single component or a single component may be implemented as a plurality of components without departing from the exemplary embodiment.

In addition, various embodiments can be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and / or engineering techniques to create software, firmware, hardware or any combination thereof to control the computer to implement the disclosed subject matter . The term " article of manufacture " as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device or computer-readable storage / communication medium. For example, the computer-readable storage medium can be any type of storage medium such as magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips), optical disks (e.g., compact disk (CD), digital versatile disk , Smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., card, stick, key drive). Of course, those skilled in the art will appreciate that many modifications may be made to this configuration without departing from the scope or spirit of the various embodiments.

In addition, the words " exemplary " and " exemplary " are used herein to mean either serving as an example or instance. Any embodiment or design described herein as " exemplary " or " exemplary " is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of the word " example " is intended to present concepts in a specific manner. As used in this application, the term "or" is intended to mean "exclusive" or "rather than" or ". That is, unless otherwise stated or contextually clear, " X adopts A or B " is intended to mean any and all inclusive substitutions. That is, when X adopts A; X adopts B; Or when X adopts both A and B, " X adopts A or B " is satisfied in any of the above cases. Furthermore, the singular forms used in this application and the appended claims should be interpreted to generally mean " one or more ", unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

Furthermore, it is to be appreciated that the terms " user equipment ", " mobile station ", " mobile ", " subscriber base station ", " access terminal ", & The terms may refer to a wireless device used by a subscriber or user of a wireless communication service to receive or transmit data, control, voice, video, sound, game or substantially any data-stream or signaling-stream. The foregoing terms are used interchangeably with reference to the present specification and the associated drawings.

In addition, the terms " user ", " subscriber ", " customer ", " consumer ", and the like are employed interchangeably as a whole unless the context guarantees certain distinctions between terms. These terms may refer to human entities or automated components supported through artificial intelligence (e.g., the ability to make inferences based on at least complex mathematical formalisms), which may include simulated visuals, sound recognition, etc. .

As used herein, the term " processor " Single-core processors; Single processors with software multi-threaded execution; A multi-core processor; Multi-core processors with software multi-threaded execution capability; Multi-core processors by hardware multi-thread technology; Parallel platforms; And parallel platforms with distributed shared memory. ≪ RTI ID = 0.0 > [0035] < / RTI > Additionally, the processor may be implemented as an integrated circuit, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a digital signal processor (DSP), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic controller A programmable logic controller (PLC), a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. Processors may utilize nano-scale architectures, such as, but not limited to, molecular and quantum dot based transistors, switches and gates to optimize space usage or improve the performance of user equipment. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing processing units.

As used herein, terms such as " data storage device ", " database ", and substantially any other information storage component relating to the operation and functionality of a component may be embodied in a " memory component & Referenced entities, or memory. It will be appreciated that the memory components or computer-readable storage medium described herein may be volatile memory or non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memory.

What has been described above includes only examples of various embodiments. Of course, it is not possible to describe all conceivable combinations of components or methodologies to illustrate these examples, but one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that many further combinations and permutations of the embodiments are possible. Accordingly, the embodiments disclosed and / or claimed herein are intended to embrace all such changes, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, to the extent that the term " includes " is used in either the detailed description or the claims, such term is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term " comprising "quot; comprising " is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term " comprising ".

Also, the flow chart may include a " start " and / or " continue " The " start " and " continue " indications reflect that the presented steps may optionally be integrated with other routines or otherwise used with other routines. In this context, "start" indicates the beginning of the first step presented and other activities not specifically indicated can be preceded. Also, the " continue " indication reflects that the presented steps may be performed multiple times and / or may be followed by other activities not specifically shown. The flowchart also shows a particular order of steps, but other orders are also possible if the principle of causality is maintained.

As used herein, the term " operably coupled ", " coupled ", and / or " coupled ", as used herein, is intended to encompass direct coupling between items and / Lt; / RTI > Such items and intervening items include, but are not limited to, junctions, communication paths, components, circuit elements, circuits, functional blocks and / or devices. As an example of indirect coupling, the signal transferred from the first item to the second item may be changed by one or more intervening items by changing the type, nature or format of the information in the signal, while one or more The elements are nonetheless delivered in a manner that can be recognized by the second item. In another example of indirect coupling, an operation in a first item may cause a response to a second item as a result of actions and / or responses in one or more intervening items.

Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it should be understood that any configuration that achieves the same or similar objectives may be substituted for the embodiments described or illustrated by the present inventive subject matter. This inventive subject matter is intended to cover any and all adaptations or variations of the various embodiments. The above embodiments and combinations of other embodiments not described in detail herein may be used in the present invention. For example, one or more features from one or more embodiments may be combined with one or more features of one or more other embodiments. In one or more embodiments, positively listed features may be negatively enumerated and excluded in the examples with or without substitution by other structural and / or functional features. The steps or functions that describe the embodiments of the present invention may be performed in any order. The steps or functions which describe the embodiments of the present invention may be used either singly or in combination with other steps or functions of the present inventive subject matter as well as from other embodiments which have not been described herein Steps. In addition, less than or greater than all of the features described for an embodiment may be utilized.

Claims (15)

A coupling device comprising:
A receiving unit for receiving, from a transmitting device, a radio frequency signal for transmitting data;
A magnetic coupler for magnetically coupling a radio frequency signal to a transmission medium as an induced electromagnetic wave bound to an outer surface of a transmission medium, the magnetic coupler comprising: a TE ₁₀ having a magnetic field for inducing the induced electromagnetic wave on the transmission medium through magnetic coupling; A cavity resonator responsive to the radio frequency signal by generating a mode in a cavity resonator, the induced electromagnetic wave propagating along the outer surface of the transmission medium through an HE ₁₁ mode; And
A housing including a dielectric portion for securing the transmission medium adjacent the magnetic coupler and a reflective plate for reducing electromagnetic radiation from the magnetic coupler. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the transmission medium comprises a wire. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the wire is insulated. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the dielectric portion comprises a cellular dielectric material. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the reflective plate is spaced a distance from the magnetic coupler corresponding to one half of the wavelength of the radio frequency signal. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the reflective plate comprises a reflective metallic surface. The method of claim 3,
Wherein the receiving portion comprises a coaxial connector and the coupling device further comprises an antenna radiating the radio frequency signal in the cavity resonator. The method of claim 3,
Wherein the cavity resonator operates below the cutoff frequency of the desired wave mode. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the receiver comprises a waveguide for directing the radio frequency signal to the magnetic coupler. A method comprising:
Receiving, from a transmitting device, a radio frequency signal that carries data;
Coupling the radio frequency signal to the transmission medium as an induced electromagnetic wave coupled to an outer surface of a transmission medium through a magnetic coupler, the magnetic coupler being configured to induce the induced electromagnetic wave on the transmission medium through magnetic coupling A cavity resonator responsive to the radio frequency signal by generating a TE ₁₀ mode with a magnetic field in a cavity resonator, the induced electromagnetic wave propagating along the outer surface of the transmission medium through an HE ₁₁ mode, To a magnetic body;
Fixing the transmission medium adjacent to the magnetic coupler through a housing including a dielectric portion; And
And reducing electromagnetic radiation from the magnetic coupler through the reflective plate. 11. The method of claim 10,
Wherein the transmission medium comprises a wire. 12. The method of claim 11,
Wherein the wire is insulated. 11. The method of claim 10,
Wherein the dielectric portion comprises a cellular dielectric material. 11. The method of claim 10,
Wherein the reflective plate is spaced apart from the magnetic coupler corresponding to one half of the wavelength of the radio frequency signal. 11. The method of claim 10,
Wherein the reflective plate comprises a reflective metallic surface.

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