Patent ID: 9621293
Date: 2017-04-11
CPC Classifications: H04B,H04J,H04W

Claim:
1. A central unit for providing communications signals and management signals in a distributed antenna system and comprising a media access controller in communication with a transceiver circuit, the central unit being configured to: receive a plurality of downlink management signals from at least one management controller for distribution to a respective plurality of remote units; time-division multiplex (TDM) the plurality of downlink management signals into time slots of the respective plurality of remote units to form a TDM downlink management frame signal; receive downlink radio frequency (RF) communication signals of at least one RF-communications frequency band for at least one RF communications service; combine the TDM downlink management frame signal with the downlink RF communication signals; send the combined TDM downlink management frame signal and the downlink RF communications signals to the respective plurality of remote units over a downlink communications link, wherein the plurality of downlink management signals includes at least one of a configuration management signal, a gain control signal, a status signal, an alarm signal, and a fault signal, and wherein at least a portion of the downlink communications link is comprised of at least one downlink optical fiber; and modulate the TDM downlink management frame signal in a management services frequency band different from the at least one RF communications frequency band, wherein the central unit comprises at least one electrical-to-optical converter configured to convert the combined TDM downlink management frame signal and the downlink RF communication signals into a combined TDM downlink optical management frame signal and downlink optical RF communications signals.