Abstract:
A novel wireless point to multipoint communication system which maximizes the number of remote stations capable of communicating with a base station is disclosed. Independent gain control of the transmitter on the remote stations as a function of the distance between the remote station and the base station is used. The gain control may be accomplished by attenuators in the RF transmit circuit of the remote stations. The attenuators may be placed immediately preceding the RF amplifiers in the RF transmit circuit of the remote stations. The amount of attenuation of the attenuators may be controlled by a microprocessor. By minimizing the gain from the remote station transmitters, the noise floor of the base station receiver is minimized thereby increasing the performance of the base station receiver. This increase in performance permits more remote stations to communicate with the base station.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Typical prior art point to multipoint communication systems comprising a base station and plural remote stations typically adjust the gain of the transmitter on each remote station to the same value. The value for transmitter gain is typically based on the distance of the furthest remote from the base station, i.e., the highest gain value, so that the base station is ensured to be able to communicate with the furthest remote. Setting transmitter gain to an identical value for all remote stations in a communication system is common practice for prior art broadband wireless access systems. Such a prior art transmitter gain scheme allows for communications between the furthest remote and the base station without having to modify individual transmitters when the remote station transmitters are placed in the field. While this scheme allows for commonality between all the remote station transmitters in the communication system, the scheme results in a poor inband noise figure for the receiver at the base station thereby limiting the number of remote stations that can communicate with the base station. 
     One embodiment of the present invention avoids the problems of the prior art by the use of a novel wireless point to multipoint communication system which maximizes the number of remote stations capable of communicating with a base station. The present invention allows for more remote stations by minimizing the inband noise floor of the base station receiver. 
     The inband noise floor of the base station receiver is affected by, among other things, the strength of the signals in the frequency band of interest received from the remote stations with which the base station communicates. Prior art systems adjust the gain of the remote station transmitters to be the same value regardless of the distance between an individual remote station and the base station. The gain is typically set at a value to allow the remote station that is furthest from the base station to be able to communicate with the base station, which results in a gain setting for the other remote stations that are closer to the base station than the furthest remote station to have a transmitter gain setting that is higher then necessary to communicate with the base station. The higher gain setting for the closer-in remote stations results in an “excess inband signal strength” seen by the receiver at the base station from the closer-in remote stations. The excess inband signal strength causes the inband noise floor of the base station receiver to increase. This increase in the inband noise floor effectively limits the number of remote stations with which the base station can communicate. 
     The present invention discloses a system and method for independent gain control of the transmitter on a particular remote station as a function of the distance between that remote station and the base station. Independent gain control eliminates the excess inband signal strength thereby allowing for an increase in the number of remote stations with which the base station can communicate. One embodiment of the present invention accomplishes gain control of the remote station transmitters by including attenuators in the RF transmit circuit of the remote stations. Any number of attenuators may be added to the RF transmit circuit as contemplated by the present invention. The attenuators may be placed anywhere in the RF transmit circuit but preferentially are placed immediately preceding the RF power amplifier in the RF transmit circuit. The amount of attenuation that the attenuators may add to the RF transmit circuit may be variable and may be controlled by a microprocessor. In one embodiment of the present invention, a value representing the amount of attenuation to be applied to a remote station transmitter is input into a look up table at the remote station. A microprocessor at the remote station accesses the value in the look up table and sends a control signal to an attenuator in the RF signal path of the remote station transmitter to control the amount of attenuation that the attenuator adds to the RF signal path. Therefore, the amount of attenuation added to the RF signal path is a function of the distance between the remote station and the base station. 
     Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel wireless point to multipoint communication system where ones of plural remote stations utilize transmitter gain control. 
     It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel wireless point to multipoint communication system where ones of plural remote stations utilize transmitter gain control as a function of the distance of the remote to the base station. 
     It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a novel wireless point to multipoint communication system where gain control of the remote stations is achieved by placing high frequency attenuators in the RF transmit path. 
     It is still another object of the present invention to provide a novel RF transmission circuit where controllable attenuators are placed in the RF transmit path immediately preceding the RF amplifiers. 
     It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel RF transmission circuit where a microprocessor controls the amount of attenuation of attenuators placed in the RF transmit path. 
     It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a novel wireless point to multipoint communication system for millimeter wave communication signals where ones of plural remote stations utilize transmitter gain control. 
     It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a novel wireless point to multipoint communication system for transmitting communication signals in the 3.4 to 3.7 GHz frequency range where ones of plural remote stations utilize transmitter gain control as a function of the distance of the remote to the base station. 
     It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a novel wireless point to multipoint communication system for millimeter wave communication signals where ones of plural remote stations utilize transmitter gain control to maximize the number of remote stations that can communicate with a base station. 
     It is yet an additional object of the present invention to provide a novel wireless point to multipoint communication system for millimeter wave communication signals where ones of plural remote stations utilize transmitter gain control to maximize the number of remote stations that can communicate with a base station by minimizing the noise floor of the receiver at the base station. 
     It is still an additional object of the present invention to provide a novel wireless point to multipoint communication system where ones of plural remote stations utilize transmitter gain control as a function of the distance of the remote to the base station where the gain control of the transmitter of each remote station can be adjusted independently of the gain control of the transmitter of other remote stations. 
     These and many other objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art to which the invention pertains from a perusal of the claims, the appended drawings, and the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a depiction of a wireless point to multipoint communication system with a single base station and plural remote stations in which the present invention may be used. 
     FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the transmitter circuit for a remote station indicating the location of the attenuators immediately prior to the RF amplifiers and controlled by a microprocessor according to the present invention. 
     FIG. 2A is a function block diagram of the attenuator circuit of FIG. 2 according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 3 is a graphical display showing a decrease of inband noise as a function of the attenuation setting on a set of two attenuators according to the embodiment of the present invention in FIG.  2 A. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     With reference to FIG. 1, a depiction of a typical wireless point to multipoint communication system with a single base station and plural remote stations is shown. The base station  10  communicates via a wireless communication link with each of the remote stations  11 ,  12 ,  13 , and  14 . It is to be understood that while only four remote stations are shown in FIG. 1, the invention is not necessarily limited to a communication system with only four remote stations. A communication system in accordance with the present invention comprising more than four remote stations is contemplated. The number of remote stations that can communicate with the base station is a function of, among other things, the inband noise floor of the receiver at the base station. The present invention minimizes the inband noise floor to allow a maximum number of remote stations to communicate with the base station as described below. 
     The base station  10  includes a transmitter for transmitting a communication signal to one or more of the remote stations, and a receiver for receiving communication signals from the remote stations. Each of the remote stations  11 ,  12 ,  13 , and  14  include a receiver for receiving a communication signal transmitted by the base station, and a transmitter for transmitting a communication signal to the base station. The remote station transmitters each include an RF transmit circuit, known as an RF transmit path, which increases the frequency of an intermediate frequency communication signal to RF frequencies, amplifies the RF communication signal, and transmits the RF communication signal. The RF amplifiers in the RF transmit path amplify the RF communication signal. The RF communication signal can be any type of communication signal which is known to one of skill in the art, such as, but not limited to, code division multiple access (“CDMA”), time division multiple access (“TDMA”), or time division multiplexed (“TDM”). The type of information in the communication signal can be of any type, such as, but not limited to, data, voice, video, multimedia, or any combination thereof. 
     Prior art communication systems and broadband wireless access systems typically set the amount of gain for the RF transmitter in each remote station based on the distance between the furthest remote station and the base station. In FIG. 1, the gain for the RF transmitter in the remote stations  11 ,  12 , and  13 , according to the prior art, would be the same as the gain for the RF transmitter in the remote station  14 , even though the gain for the RF transmitter in the remote stations  11 ,  12 , and  13  may not necessarily need to be set as high as the gain for the RF transmitter in the remote station  14 . 
     With reference to FIG. 2, the RF transmit path for a remote station transmitter, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, is depicted in a functional block diagram. The intermediate frequency (“IF”) signal  21  is input into the first RF circuit  20  which produces the first radio frequency (“RF”) signal  23 . The IF signal  21  may contain any type of digitized data such as, but not limited to, data, voice, video, multimedia, or any combination thereof. The first RF signal  23  is typically a representation of the IF signal  21 , including the data encoded in the signal, but the RF signal is at a higher frequency. The first RF circuit  20  may contain any combination of oscillators, filters, buffers, synthesizers, mixers, and other components as would appear in any circuit known in the art to transform an IF signal in a radio transmitter to an RF signal. The first RF signal  23  is input into the attenuator circuit  22 . The attenuator circuit may contain one or more attenuators. The attenuator circuit also includes standard means for adjusting the amount of attenuation of the attenuators. The control signal  25  is provided by the microprocessor  24  and the control signal  25  is also input into the attenuator circuit  22 . The look up table  26  may contain information representative of the distance between the remote station and a base station with which the remote station communicates via a wireless radio link. The lookup table is operatively connected to the microprocessor. In one embodiment of the present invention, the microprocessor  24  provides a control signal to the attenuator circuit  22  as a function of the information contained in the lookup table  26 . The attenuator circuit  22  produces the second RF signal  27  which is provided to the second RF circuit  28 . In one embodiment of the present invention, the attenuators are placed in the later stages of the transmit path in order to maximize the benefit of the attenuation of the RF signal being processed through the transmit path. The benefit of the attenuation is maximized since the gain after the attenuators cannot be reduced. The second RF circuit may contain one or more RF amplifiers  30  and an antenna  32 . The antenna is typically directional and pointed towards the base station with which the remote station communicates. It is to be understood that any type of antenna will work with the present invention. The second RF circuit  28  amplifies the second RF signal  27  and antenna  32  transmits the RF communication signal  29 . 
     With continued reference to FIG. 2, the operation of the depicted remote station RF transmitter is as follows. The IF signal  21  is provided to the first RF circuit  20  which produces a first RF signal  23 . The IF signal, in one embodiment of the present invention, is in the range of 40-48 MHz and is preferably 44 MHz. The first RF signal is typically a higher frequency representation of the IF signal and is in the range of 3.4-3.7 GHz and is preferably 3.5 GHz. The first RF signal  23  is provided to the attenuator circuit  22  which produces the second RF signal  27  responsive to the first RF signal  23  and the control signal  25 . The frequency of the second RF signal is approximately the same as the frequency of the first RF signal. The microprocessor  24  retrieves information related to the distance from the remote station to the base station from the lookup table  26 . The distance information in the lookup table is typically entered into the lookup table at or about the time the remote station is physically put in place, although the distance information in the lookup table may be entered at any time. Generally, the distance information is entered into the lookup table prior to the initiation of the transmission sequence being now described. The microprocessor provides a control signal  25  to the attenuator circuit  22  as a function of the distance information in the lookup table  26 . Therefore, at least one attribute of the control signal  25  is a function of the distance of the remote station to the base station. As described above, the attenuator circuit  22  includes at least one attenuator where the amount of attenuation of one or more of the at least one attenuators is adjustable in response to the control signal  25 . Therefore, the amount of attenuation added by the attenuator circuit  22  is controlled by the microprocessor  24  via the control signal  25  as a function of the distance between the remote station and the base station. 
     By controlling the amount of attenuation added to the RF transmit path, the inband noise level performance of the base station transmitter is improved (see FIG. 3 as discussed below) which has the effect of increasing the performance of the base station receiver thereby allowing for more remote stations to communicate with the base station. The present invention allows the transmitter of each remote station of a communication system to be individually adjusted so that the gain of the transmitted RF communication signal is sufficiently high for reliable communication with the base station yet not too high to result in a poor inband noise figure and thereby degrade the performance of the base station receiver. For example, for the remote station  12  of FIG. 1, which is closer to the base station  10  than the remote station  14 , the amount of attenuation to be added to the transmitter for the remote station  12  will be more than the amount of attenuation to be added to the transmitter of the remote station  14 . 
     Still with continued reference to FIG. 2, the second RF signal  27  is provided to the second RF circuit  28 . The second RF circuit may contain at least one RF amplifier  30  and an antenna  32 . The second RF circuit produces and transmits, in response to the second RF signal  27 , the RF communication signal  29 . The RF communication signal  29  is approximately the same frequency as the second RF signal  27  and is a higher frequency representation of the IF signal  21 , including the data encoded within the IF signal, as is standard in the art. 
     With reference now to FIG. 2A where like components have like numbers, the attenuator circuit  22  is shown in functional block diagram format with the respective input and output signals. In this embodiment the attenuator circuit  22  includes two attenuators, the attenuator  22 A and the attenuator  22 B, where the amount of attenuation of the attenuators is responsive to the control signal  25 A and the control signal  25 B, respectively, as described above. The microprocessor  24  provides the control signals  25 A and  25 B which may be the same or different. 
     With reference now to FIG. 3, the graphical display shows the inband noise performance of a remote station transmitter for various attenuator settings. For FIG. 3, the attenuator circuit  22  includes two attenuators, the attenuator  22 A and the attenuator  22 B, as shown in FIG.  2 A. The vertical axis of FIG. 3 is an inband noise parameter measured in decibel-milliwatts per hertz (dBm/Hz). The horizontal axis of FIG. 3 is the attenuation added by the attenuators in decibels (dB). The upper curve on the graph is representative of the effect on the inband noise parameter due to the attenuation setting of the attenuator  22 A. The lower curve on the graph is representative of the effect on the inband noise parameter due to the attenuation setting of attenuator  22 B. It should be noted that as the attenuation of either of the attenuators increases (from left to right on the horizontal axis) the inband noise parameter decreases (becomes more negative). 
     By controlling the inband noise parameter individually for each remote station in a point to multipoint wireless communication system, the noise floor of the receiver at the base station is lowered thereby increasing the performance of the base station receiver. This increase in performance permits more remote stations to communicate with the base station. 
     While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described, it is to be understood that the embodiments described are illustrative only and the scope of the invention is to be defined solely by the appended claims when accorded a full range of equivalence, many variations and modifications naturally occurring to those of skill in the art from a perusal hereof.