Patent ID: 8010116
Filing Date: 2011-08-30
Classification: H04B,H04W

Abstract:
1. A distributed antenna system comprising: a base transceiver station having a plurality of output ports that generate a plurality of downlink signals having overlapping transmit frequencies and containing different communication content, the different communication content being directed toward each of a plurality of mobile units and the base transceiver station having at least one uplink receive port that receives an uplink signal, the uplink signal including communication content received from at least one of the mobile units; a plurality of distributed antenna units, each of which is located at a respective location that is remote from the base transceiver station, the plurality of distributed antenna units having coverage areas that are non-overlapping or only partially overlapping; and a signal routing apparatus comprising a reconfigurable switch that selectively routes the downlink signals to the plurality of distributed antenna units, such that each of the plurality of downlink signals are transmitted by one or more of the distributed antenna units and each distributed antenna unit only transmits one of the downlink signals; wherein the signal routing apparatus is further configured to reconfigure the reconfigurable switch and to automatically sense connections to the base transceiver station for use in connection with reconfiguring the reconfigurable switch.