Patent ID: 8478199

Claim:
A signal conditioning device for maintaining a level of strength of radio frequency (RF) signal traffic, the signal conditioning device comprising: a transmission line for conducting RF signal traffic between a first end and a second end, the RF signal traffic exhibiting a loss across the first end and the second end; a controller for periodically determining whether power is supplied to a signal conditioning device, and based on the determination, the RF signal traffic is switched between a first signal path and a second signal path; a variable attenuator for inserting an amount of loss into the RF signal traffic in the first signal path when power is determined to be supplied to the signal conditioning device, wherein the amount of loss changes the level of strength of the RF signal traffic at the first end to the level of strength of the RF signal traffic at the second end; a non-volatile attenuator; wherein the controller periodically assigning the amount of loss, applied to the RF signal traffic in the first signal path, to the non-volatile attenuator in a second signal path by communicating between the variable attenuator and the non-volatile attenuator; wherein the non-volatile attenuator periodically stores the amount of loss assigned by the controller when power is determined to be supplied to the signal conditioning device, and maintains the stored amount of loss without power being supplied to the signal conditioning device; a switching device for switching to the second signal path when power is determined not to be supplied to the signal conditioning device; and wherein the signal conditioning device maintains the level of strength of the RF signal traffic, when power is determined not to be supplied to the signal conditioning device, by inserting, into the RF signal traffic in the second signal path, the amount of loss that was assigned and stored by the non-volatile attenuator in the second signal path.