Patent ID: 7062252

Claim:
A base-station transceiver system (BTS) operative in a cellular telephone network, comprising: a main up-link port and a diversity up-link port adapted to operate cooperatively to receive up-link signals over-the-air from cellular telephones such that both of the ports receive the up-link signals from each of the cellular telephones, the main up-link port and the diversity up-link port being coupled to receive signals from wired telephones, such that the main up-link port receives signals only from a first group of the wired telephones and the diversity up-link port receives signals only from a second group of the wired telephones, the wired telephones being connected by wire to a cable television (CATV) network wherein the signals from the first and the second group of wired telephones are conveyed to the main up-link port and the diversity up-link port via the CATV network; signal processing circuitry adapted to receive the signals from the up-link ports and convey the signals over the network; a first duplexer adapted to receive the signals from the first group of wired telephones and to convey the signals to the main up-link port; a second duplexer adapted to receive the signals from the second group of wired telephones and to convey the signals to the diversity up-link port; and a down-link port adapted to convey down-link signals via the first duplexer and the CATV network to the first group of wired telephones and via the second duplexer and the CATV network to the second group of wired telephones.