Receiver diversity in a communication system

Details Receiver diversity in a communication system Receiver diversity in a communication system

2002-01-11

2004-07-06

Patel, Ajit (Department: 2664)

Multiplex communications

Communication over free space

Having a plurality of contiguous regions served by...

C370S338000, C370S349000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06760318

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of wireless communications; more particularly, the present invention relates to receiver diversity in a wireless communications system.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1
illustrates an exemplary network environment used today. Referring to
FIG. 1
, a corporate Local Area Network (LAN) backbone
102
interfaces to a number of desktop computers
103
1
-
103
n
and may interface to Internet
101
. Corporate LAN backbone
102
may comprise a firewall
102
A, corporate server
102
B, and a standard Ethernet switch
102
C. Ethernet switch
102
C includes an interface by which desktops
103
1
-
103
1n
are coupled to the corporate LAN backbone
102
and may access corporate sever
102
B and Internet
101
(via firewall
102
A).
More recently, Wireless LANs (WLANs) are being installed. Many of the recently implemented WLANs operate according to the protocol set forth in the 802.11 Standard, particularly as more enterprises are adopting the 802.11 Standard. ISO|IEC DIS 8802.11.
FIG. 2
illustrates one embodiment of an 802.11 based WLAN (LAN) system. Referring to
FIG. 2
, the Internet or other LAN
201
is coupled to an 802.11 server
203
via firewall (FW)
202
. Server
203
communicates with mobile stations in a number of 802.11 cells
206
1
-
206
n
using an access point in each of cells
206
1
-
206
n
, such as access point
204
. Server
203
is coupled to access points such as access point
204
, via an Ethernet connection. There is one access point for each of the 802.11 cells
206
1
-
206
n
. Mobile stations in each of the 802.11 cells, such as laptops
205
1
and
205
2
in cell
206
1
, communicate wirelessly with the access points via the 802.11 protocol. The communications from mobile stations in the 802.11 cells to the access points are forwarded through to server
203
and potentially to Internet/LAN
201
, while communications from Internet/LAN
201
are forwarded through server
203
to the mobile stations via the access points.
There are a number of problems associated with the current implementations of 802.11 networks. For example, in order to set up an 802.11 network such as shown in
FIG. 2
, a site survey is required in order to determine where each of the access points are placed to ensure that the 802.11 cells provide complete coverage over a particular geographic area. This may be costly. Also, the cost of each of the access points is approximately $500.00. Generally, such a high cost is a deterrent to having a large number of access points. However, by reducing the number of access points, coverage diminishes and the 802.11 network is less effective. Furthermore, there are a number of mobility problems associated with the current 802.11 network deployments. For example, the 802.11 standard sets forth a number of solutions to handle the issue of mobility of mobile stations between the 802.11 cells. However, these schemes do not work effectively as there is no standard solution in place and users haven't indicated a desire for long-term proprietary solutions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A communication system is described. In one embodiment, the communication system comprises a mobile station having a transmitter to transmit packets wirelessly according to a protocol and multiple repeaters communicably coupled with the mobile station. Each of the plurality of repeaters receives one or more packets of the wirelessly transmitted packets from the mobile station. Each of the repeaters receives an indication of which of the wirelessly transmitted packets were received without errors by other repeaters and a received signal strength for those packets. Each of the repeaters sends an acknowledgement packet to the mobile device for packets received at a higher received signal strength than any other repeater. The communication system also includes a switch coupled to the repeaters. Each repeater forwards to the switch wirelessly transmitted packets.


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