Patent ID: 7412207

Claim:
A method comprising: determining a path of a signal between a donor network element and a remote station, the donor network element being associated with at least one repeater, the determining comprising: receiving at the remote station a plurality of signals associated with a plurality of network elements; calculating an estimate of the distance between the remote station and each network element, based on the received plurality of signals, including an estimate of the distance between the remote station and each repeater associated with the donor network element, wherein the calculating of the estimate of the distance includes estimating the location of the remote station and thereby estimating an actual distance between each donor network element and the remote station and estimating an actual distance between each repeater and the remote station, and wherein the calculating of the estimate of the distance further includes measuring physical quantities at the remote station, and thereby estimating a model distance between each network element and the remote station and estimating a model distance between each repeater and the remote station; calculating a difference value for each donor network element and at least one repeater by summing the difference between each actual distance estimate and each model distance estimate obtained for each respective donor network element and at least one repeater; determining that the signal is transmitted from the donor network element or at least one repeater having the lowest calculated difference value; and selecting the donor network element or repeater having the lowest calculated difference value be the source of the signal.