Telecommunications – Transmitter and receiver at separate stations – Having measuring – testing – or monitoring of system or part
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-16
2002-08-27
To, Doris H. (Department: 2682)
Telecommunications
Transmitter and receiver at separate stations
Having measuring, testing, or monitoring of system or part
C455S011100, C455S550100, C455S424000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06442372
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to communications systems and more particularly to the monitoring, operating and controlling of remote equipment in a communication system.
II. Description of the Related Art
Communication systems and, in particular wireless communications networks such as cellular network communication systems, use various equipment throughout their systems to process and maintain the quality of signals carrying user generated information such as text, voice, and video. Equipment located throughout the system which are remotely located from each other are often used to improve signal quality in areas that would otherwise receive a degraded signal or no signal at all or in areas where a signal that is transmitted would be degraded when received. In order to ensure the proper functioning of these communication systems, the remote equipment must be monitored, controlled and operated on a continual basis.
FIG. 1
is a system level diagram of a cellular wireless communications system similar to the Autoplex® cellular communications system (Autoplex is a registered trademark of Lucent Technologies, Inc.) available from Lucent Technologies, Inc. of Murray Hill, N.J. The Autoplex® cellular communications system, when configured as a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, is in compliance with the TIA/EIA/IS-95A communication protocol. The TIA/EIA/IS-95A protocol is a compatibility standard for cellular mobile telecommunications systems that dictates how information is to be transmitted, processed and received in a communication system that uses a Code Division Multiple Access scheme or wideband spread spectrum mode of operation.
FIG. 1
depicts communication center
2
connected to a telephone network such as public switch telephone network (PSTN)
4
. Communication center
2
, commonly referred to as a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), is connected to network
4
via trunk line
6
which carries information between network
4
and communications center
2
. Communications center
2
is also connected to communication sites
8
, commonly referred to as cell sites or base stations, throughout the cellular network. Each communication site
8
is located in a particular cell
10
. Communications between communication center
2
and communication sites
8
is provided by communication channel
12
which is typically a trunk line. Each cell
10
is represented by a hexagon which is a symbolic representation of the geographic terrain or particular physical area that is being served by a communication site. That is, each cell
10
has a communication site
8
which communicates with user stations or mobile stations within that cell via a user channel such as a wireless user channel.
Also, system information is conveyed between communication site
8
and the user stations or between communication site
8
and communication center
2
. The system information, commonly referred to as overhead information includes information such as a request by a mobile station for assignment of a user channel, information concerning the status of a mobile station, user channel assignment by communication site
8
, and communications with communication center
2
regarding handoffs between cells. System information is transmitted and received using one or more overhead or system channels that are separate from the user channels. The system channel and the user channels will be discussed in greater detail below. For clarity, in the figures discussed below, channels which typically carry user information are depicted with solid lines while channels that typically carry system information are depicted with broken lines.
FIG. 2
is a detailed diagram of a particular cell of a CDMA based cellular communication system. The particular cell being shown is that of the Autoplex® cellular communications system as currently configured and designed. System information is conveyed over system channel
24
of communication channel
12
between communication center
2
and communication site
8
. User information is conveyed over user channel
22
of communication channel
12
between communication center
2
and communication site
8
. Communication center
2
is known as the Autoplex® cellular communications system Control Complex which has digital switch
14
that interfaces to PSTN
4
and a call processing module
16
which in turn interfaces with an Operation Administration and Maintenance (OA&M) module
18
and Maintenance Cathode Ray Tube (MCRT)
20
. Call processing module
16
processes, packages and routes incoming and outgoing user and system information in accordance with the IS-95A protocol and any other protocol developed for the system. Call processing module
16
relays incoming user information to PSTN
4
via trunk line
6
. Incoming system information is recognized as such by call processing module
16
which routes such information to OA&M module
18
. OA&M module
18
processes the received system information so that the information is displayed on MCRT
20
. Outgoing user information originating from PSTN
4
is relayed by call processing module
16
to communication site
8
over user channel
22
of communication channel
12
. Outgoing system information originates from call processing module
16
or OA&M module
18
which transfers such information to call processing module
16
. Outgoing system information may also originate from call processing module
16
. Call processing module
16
formats and packages the system information in accordance with the IS-95A standard and then transmits the information over system channel
24
of communication channel
12
. Also, communication center
2
uses the system channel information to monitor, operate or control various equipment located at communication site
8
. User information is conveyed between communication site
8
and the user stations
28
over wireless user channel
26
. User communication link
26
is a full duplex wireless channel which carries user information between communication site
8
and user station
28
.
In some cells of a wireless communication system, coverage is limited by structures, such as tall buildings, mountain ranges and other physical obstacles that block or interfere with communication signals. This problem may be addressed by providing remote units
30
that are repeaters. Remote unit
30
, configured as a repeater, relays communication signals between communication site
8
and a user or users in an area that cannot be covered adequately by direct communication with communication site
8
. The remote unit receives the communication signal from the communication site
8
and performs functions such as noise reductions and amplification on the received signal, and then retransmits or relays the signal to a user in the area that has difficulty receiving signals directly from communication site
8
. Similarly, in an area which has difficulty in transmitting a signal directly to communication site
8
, the signal is transmitted to a remote unit configured as a repeater which in turn relays the signal to communication site
8
. The repeater relays both user information and system information to communication site
8
and user station
28
.
System information between user stations
28
and communication site
8
is conveyed over a system communication link, commonly referred to as an overhead channel, that is separate from user communication link
26
. The system communication link comprises two simplex channels referred to as paging channel
36
and access channel
38
. Paging channel
36
is used by the communication site
8
to transmit system information to user stations
28
and remote units
30
configured as repeaters. User stations
28
and remote units configured as repeaters use access channel
38
to transmit system information to communication site
8
. The system information is conveyed over system channel
24
of trunk line
12
between communication site
8
and communication center
2
. Thus, user stations
28
have the capability to communicate wit
Laham Mohammad
Sanford Charles
Lucent Technologies - Inc.
To Doris H.
LandOfFree
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