TH29489A - Methods and equipment for providing cellular service to Macro cells and picocells in a building using a combination of devices - Google Patents

Abstract

DC60 (03/02/41) This invention is the equipment and method for providing cellular telephone service to picocells inside buildings, extending cellular telephone service from outdoor macrocells to indoors. The first transceiver provides cellular telephone service to the macrocells and the second transceiver provides cellular telephone service to the picocells. A series of signal combiners, which combine multiple radio frequency signals into a single radio frequency signal, and a splitter, which duplicates the same radio frequency signal, are used to connect the two transceivers to a large number of common antennas inside such a building. This invention is the equipment and method for providing cellular telephone service to picocells inside buildings, extending cellular telephone service from outdoor macrocells to indoors. The first transceiver provides cellular telephone service to the macrocells and the second transceiver provides cellular telephone service to the picocells. A series of signal combiners, which combine multiple radio frequency signals into a single radio frequency signal, and a splitter, which duplicates the same radio frequency signal, are used to connect the two transceivers to a large number of common antennas inside such a building. A single transmitter and a splitter, which replicate the radio frequency signal into multiple copies of the same radio frequency signal, were used to connect the two transceiver sets to a common antenna located within the building.

Claims (10)

1. Equipment for providing indoor cellular phone service, comprising: equipment for enabling cellular phone service in indoor picocells; equipment for extending cellular service from outdoor macrocells to the indoor area; and equipment for combining picocell and macrocell services onto a common indoor antenna. 2. The equipment specified in Claim 1, which enables cellular telephone service to indoor picocells, consists of a base station connected to the cellular network and numerous transceivers connected to the base station for communication with the cellular network, and these numerous transceivers are also connected to a common indoor antenna for communication with and to provide picocell coverage to the said indoor cellular phones. 3. The equipment specified in claim 1, which is equipment for extending cellular telephone service from an outdoor macrocell to an indoor one, consists of a base station connected to the cellular network and numerous transceivers connected to the base station for communication with the cellular network. These numerous transceivers are also connected to a common antenna located outside the building for communication with and to provide macrocell coverage to the outdoor cellular phones, and these numerous transceivers are also connected to a common antenna located inside the building for communication with and to provide macrocell coverage to the indoor cellular phones. 4. The equipment specified in claim 1, whereby the equipment for extending cellular telephone service from an outdoor macrocell to an indoor one, consists of a repeater that communicates with the cellular network via a remote base station; such repeater is connected to a common antenna inside the building for communication with and provision of macrocell coverage to cellular phones inside the building. 5. Equipment for transmitting signals to indoor and outdoor cellular phones, consisting of a primary transceiver unit containing one or more transceivers connected to the cellular network. Each transceiver in this primary unit generates a transmitter output signal associated with the outdoor macrocell. A second transceiver unit containing one or more transceivers connected to the cellular network. Each transceiver in this second unit generates a transmitter output signal associated with the indoor picocell. A first combiner for combining the transmitter output signals from the primary unit to produce a first output signal. A splitter for reproducing the first output signal and creating the first and second copies of the combined first output signal. The first copy of the output signal is sent to the antenna for the provision of the outdoor macrocell coverage. A second combiner for combining the transmitter output signals from the second unit and the second copy of the combined first output signal to produce a second output signal, which is then output to the indoor antenna for the provision of the indoor picocell coverage and the extension of the indoor macrocell coverage. 6. Equipment for receiving cellular phone signals, both indoor and outdoor, consisting of: an outdoor antenna for receiving macrocell transmissions from outdoor cellular phones; an indoor antenna for receiving macrocell and picocell transmissions from indoor cellular phones; a signal combiner for combining the transmissions from the outdoor and indoor antennas, providing a combined output signal; a signal splitter for reproducing the first output signal and creating the first and second copies of the combined output signal; a first transceiver unit consisting of one or more transceivers connected to the cellular network, receiving macrocell transmissions from outdoor and indoor cellular phones via the first copy of the combined output signal; and a second transceiver unit consisting of one or more transceivers connected to the cellular network, receiving picocell transmissions from indoor cellular phones via the second copy of the combined output signal. 7. Equipment for transmitting signals to indoor cellular phones, consisting of a repeater that receives a connection to the cellular network via a remote base station. This repeater generates an output signal associated with the outdoor macrocell. A transceiver unit consisting of one or more transceivers connected to the cellular network. Each transceiver in this unit generates an output signal associated with the indoor picocell. A combiner combines the output signals from the repeater and the transceiver unit to produce a combined output signal that is output to the indoor antenna for the provision of the indoor picocell coverage and the extension of the macrocell coverage within the building. 8. Equipment for receiving signals from indoor cellular phones, consisting of an indoor antenna for receiving macrocell and picocell signals from the indoor cellular phones; a splitter for generating a replica of the signal received from the antenna and creating a first and second copy of the received signal; a repeater connected to the cellular network via a remote base station, which receives macrocell signals from the indoor cellular phones via the first copy of the received signal; and a transceiver set consisting of one or more transceivers connected to the cellular network, which receives picocell signals from the indoor cellular phones via the second copy of the combined output signal. 9. The method for transmitting signals to indoor and outdoor cellular phones consists of the following steps: Combining the transmitter outputs from each transceiver in the first transceiver set associated with the macrocell to generate the first combined output signal. Reproducing the first combined output signal to create the first and second copies. Transmitting the first copy of the first combined output signal to the outdoor cellular phone associated with the macrocell and the outdoor antenna. Combining the transmitter outputs from each transceiver in the second transceiver set associated with the picocell and the second copy of the first combined output signal to generate the second combined output signal. Finally, transmitting the second combined output signal to the indoor cellular phone associated with the picocell and macrocell on the indoor antenna. 10. The method for receiving and transmitting signals from indoor and outdoor cellular phones consists of the following steps: receiving macrocell signals from the outdoor cellular phone via the outdoor antenna; receiving macrocell and picocell signals from the indoor cellular phone via the indoor antenna; combining the macrocell signals received via the outdoor antenna with the macrocell and picocell signals received via the indoor antenna to generate a combined output signal; and reproducing this combined output signal to create a copy for each transceiver in the first transceiver set associated with the macrocell and for each transceiver in the second transceiver set associated with the picocell. (Ten Claims - Figure)