HK1140865A - Configuration of a repeater - Google Patents

Description

Configuration of repeaters

Priority requirement

Priority of U.S. provisional patent application No. S/N.60/904,368 entitled "ADAPTIVE SAME FREQUENCY REPEATER TECHNIQUES (adaptive same frequency repeater technology)" filed on 3, 2/2007, which application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety

Background

Conventionally, the coverage area of a wireless communication network, such as a Time Division Duplex (TDD), Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), microwave access global interoperability (Wi-max), cellular, global system for mobile communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), or 3G based wireless network, may be increased by repeaters. Exemplary repeaters include, for example, frequency translating repeaters or on-frequency repeaters operating in the physical layer or data link layer as defined by the open systems interconnection basic reference model (OSI model).

Physical layer repeaters can be classified into "same frequency" or "frequency translating" devices. The network architecture associated with where the repeaters will be deployed will determine the type of repeater used. If an on-frequency repeater is used, it requires the repeater to receive and transmit concurrently on the same frequency. Therefore, the repeater must use various antennas and digital/analog cancellation techniques to achieve isolation between the receiver and the transmitter. If a frequency translating repeater is used, the repeater receives the signal on the first frequency channel and then translates it to a second frequency channel for concurrent transmission. In this way, isolation between the transmitter and receiver is achieved to some extent by frequency separation. Preferably, the antenna for receiving and transmitting and the repeater circuit are included in the same package in order to achieve reduced manufacturing costs, ease of installation, and the like. This is particularly the case when the repeater is intended for use by consumers as a home or small office based device, where form factor and ease of installation are key considerations. In such devices, one antenna or group of antennas typically faces a base station, access point, gateway, for example, and another antenna or group of antennas faces a subscriber device.

For repeaters that receive and transmit concurrently, isolation between the receive and transmit antennas is an important factor in overall repeater performance, i.e., the case of relaying to the same frequency or to different frequencies. More specifically, if the receiver and transmitter antennas are not properly isolated, the performance of the repeater can be significantly degraded. Typically, the gain of the repeater cannot be greater than the isolation to prevent repeater oscillation or initial sensitivity degradation. Isolation is typically achieved by physical separation, antenna pattern or polarization. For frequency translating repeaters, additional isolation may be achieved using bandpass filtering, but antenna isolation is still generally a limiting factor in repeater performance due to the reception of unwanted noise and out-of-band radiation from the transmitter in the in-band frequency range of the receiving antenna. In the case of repeaters operating at the same frequency, receiver to transmitter antenna isolation is a more critical issue, in which case band pass filtering does not provide additional isolation.

Cellular-based systems often have limited licensed spectrum available and cannot utilize a frequency translation relaying approach, and therefore use repeaters that utilize the same receive and transmit frequency channels.

As mentioned above, for repeaters intended for consumer use, it may be preferable to manufacture the repeater to physically have a small form factor to achieve further cost reduction, ease of installation, etc. However, the small form factor results in the antennas being arranged in close proximity, thereby exacerbating the isolation problem discussed above.

Current repeaters suffer from other serious drawbacks because they cannot separate the leakage from their own transmitter from the signal they wish to repeat. As a result, conventional repeaters are generally unable to optimize their system isolation and performance on a real-time basis, resulting in poor operation or disruptive impact on the overall network system. In particular, current practice does not allow for adaptive cancellation of undesired signals in a repeater environment while enabling the repeater to operate as normal. Alternatively, current repeater deployments provide limited cancellation loops due to cost and complexity, are discrete implementations, and are typically deployed in single band systems without sub-band filtering. Furthermore, current deployments of interference cancellation loops assume multipath delays and suffer from additional or mismatched delays in the scattered signal, varying delays in the signal (e.g., doppler), and limited cancellation of the wideband signal (e.g., IC bandwidth).

From the foregoing, it should be readily apparent that there exists a need for a system and method for overcoming the shortcomings of the prior practices.

Summary of the invention

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

In one aspect, the present specification sets forth a method for configuring a frequency repeater in a wireless environment, the method comprising: configuring a frequency repeater with an identity of a service provider, locating the frequency repeater at a location, wherein the frequency repeater receives a signal transmitted by the service provider matching the preconfigured identity; receiving a message from a service provider defining a set of frequency channels having available services; configuring a digital filter to pass exclusively a received set of frequencies; and the frequency of the relay pass.

In another aspect, a wireless device includes: a processor configured to store an identity of a service provider; receiving a message from a service provider defining a set of frequency channels with available services, wherein the service provider matches the stored identity of the service provider; configuring a digital filter to pass exclusively a received set of frequencies; and the frequency of the relay pass; and a memory coupled to the processor.

In yet another aspect, an apparatus that operates in a wireless environment is disclosed, the apparatus comprising: means for configuring the frequency repeater with an identity of a service provider, means for locating the frequency repeater in a location where the frequency repeater receives a signal transmitted by a service provider matching the preconfigured identity; means for receiving a message from a service provider defining a set of frequency channels with available services; means for configuring a digital filter to pass exclusively a received set of frequencies; and means for relaying the passed frequencies.

In yet another aspect, the present specification discloses a computer program product comprising a computer readable medium comprising: code for causing a computer to find a location of a largest signal exhibiting a carrier; code for causing a computer to receive a set of frequencies to be repeated, the frequencies associated with a waveform of a carrier wave; code for causing a computer to configure a filter to exclusively pass a received set of frequencies, the filter being a digital filter; and code for causing a computer to relay the passed frequencies.

The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative aspects of the subject matter. These aspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the subject matter may be employed and the claimed subject matter is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents.

Brief Description of Drawings

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary housing of an illustrative repeater in accordance with aspects described herein.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram of an example signal propagation of an example RF repeater performing feedback cancellation in accordance with aspects described herein.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram of an example antenna repeater assembly, in accordance with aspects described herein.

Fig. 4 is a block diagram of an example repeater assembly, in accordance with aspects described herein.

Fig. 5 is a block diagram of cooperation of exemplary components of an illustrative RF repeater in accordance with aspects set forth herein.

Fig. 6 is another block diagram of cooperation of exemplary components of an illustrative RF repeater in accordance with aspects described herein.

Fig. 7 is a block diagram of a Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) repeater with a dual band array in accordance with aspects described herein.

Fig. 8 is a block diagram of an example FDD single band repeater with a digital interference cancellation system in accordance with aspects described herein.

Fig. 9 is a block diagram of an example FDD single band repeater with a digital interference cancellation system and array in accordance with aspects described herein.

Fig. 10 depicts an example system that facilitates configuration of a relay in accordance with aspects set forth herein.

Fig. 11 illustrates an example repeater platform operable to determine channel filtering and repeating in accordance with aspects described herein.

Fig. 12A and 12B illustrate the contents of an example policy store and filter masks that may be configured based on the contents of the policy store, respectively.

Fig. 13 is a block diagram of an example system that facilitates configuration of a relay platform that employs a network management platform that is different from a service provider operating a wireless network for configuration purposes.

Fig. 14 is a flow diagram of an example method for configuring a frequency repeater in accordance with aspects described in the subject specification.

Fig. 15 is a flow diagram of an example method for adaptively configuring a relay based on performance metrics in accordance with aspects set forth herein.

Fig. 16 is a flow diagram of an example method for managing an operational state of a frequency repeater based on a location change.

Fig. 17 illustrates an example system that facilitates configuration of a frequency repeater.

Detailed Description

The present disclosure relates to the following U.S. patent applications filed on 3/2008: PHYSICAL LAYER REPEATER UTILIZINGREAL TIME MEASUREMENT METRICS AND ADAPTIVE ANTENNAARRAY TO PROMOTE SIGNAL INTEGRITY AND AMPLIFICATION (physical layer repeater using real-TIME MEASUREMENT metrics and adaptive antenna arrays TO improve signal integrity and AMPLIFICATION) attorney docket number 080603U 1, S/N.XX/XXX, XXX; CLOSED FORM equivalent weight USED IN A REPEATERTRANSMITTER LEAKAGE c mean phase SYSTEM of attorney docket number 080603U2, S/n.xx/XXX, XXX (calculated with CLOSED FORM of time EQUALIZER WEIGHTS in repeater transmitter leakage CANCELLATION SYSTEMs); use OF A FILTERBANK IN AN ADAPTIVEON-CHANNEL REPEATER UTILIZING ADAPTIVE ANTENNA ARRAYS by attorney docket number 080603U3, S/N.XX/XXX, XXX (using filter banks IN adaptive on-channel repeaters UTILIZING adaptive antenna arrays); use OF ADAPTIVE ANTENNAARRAY IN CONJUNCTION WITH AN ON-CHANNEL REPEATER TOIMPROVE SIGNAL QUALITY (used in CONJUNCTION WITH AN ON-channel repeater to improve SIGNAL QUALITY) OF attorney docket numbers 080603U4, S/N.XX/XXX, XXX; attorney docket number 080603U5, AUTOMATICGAIN CONTROL AND FILTERING TECHNIQUES FOR USE INON-CHANNEL REPEATER of S/N.XX/XXX, XXX (automatic gain CONTROL and filtering TECHNIQUES FOR co-channel repeaters); and superimprocedpomposite CHANNEL FILTER by attorney docket numbers 080603U7, S/n.xx/XXX, the contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

Various embodiments are now described with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of one or more embodiments. It may be evident, however, that such embodiment(s) may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to facilitate describing one or more embodiments.

In addition, various aspects of the present invention are described below. It should be apparent that the teachings herein may be embodied in a wide variety of forms and that any specific structure and/or function disclosed herein is merely representative. Based on the teachings herein one skilled in the art should appreciate that an aspect disclosed herein may be implemented independently of any other aspects and that two or more of these aspects may be combined in various ways. For example, an apparatus and/or method may be implemented or practiced with any number of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, an apparatus and/or method may be implemented or practiced with other structure and/or functionality in addition to or other than one or more of the aspects set forth herein. By way of example, many of the methods, devices, systems, and apparatuses described herein are described in the context of boosting uplink pilot signals in a W-CDMA communication system. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that these similar techniques may be applied to other communication environments.

As used in this application, the terms "component," "module," "system," and the like are intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, firmware, a combination of hardware and software, software in execution, firmware, middleware, microcode, and/or any combination thereof. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, and not limitation, both an application running on a computing device and the computing device can be a component. One or more components may reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component may be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers. In addition, these components can execute from various computer readable media having various data structures stored thereon. The components may communicate by way of local and/or remote processes such as in accordance with a signal having one or more data packets (e.g., data from one component interacting with another component in a local system, distributed system, and/or across a network such as the internet with other systems by way of the signal). Additionally, as will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, components of the systems described herein may be rearranged and/or complimented by additional components in order to facilitate achieving the various aspects, goals, advantages, etc., described with regard thereto, and are not limited to the precise configurations set forth in a given figure.

Moreover, various embodiments are described herein in connection with a wireless terminal or User Equipment (UE). A wireless terminal or UE can also be called a system, a subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile device, remote station, remote terminal, UE, user terminal, wireless communication device, user agent, or user device. A wireless terminal or UE may be a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld device having wireless connection capability, a computing device, or other processing device connected to a wireless modem. Moreover, various embodiments are described herein in connection with a base station. A base station may be utilized for communicating with wireless terminals and may also be referred to as an access point, a node B, or some other terminology.

Moreover, various aspects or features described herein may be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques. The term "article of manufacture" as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media. For example, computer-readable media can include but are not limited to magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips, etc.), optical disks (e.g., Compact Disk (CD), Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), etc.), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., EPROM, card, stick, key drive, etc.). In addition, various storage media described herein can represent one or more devices and/or other machine-readable media for storing information. Additionally, it should be appreciated that a carrier wave can be employed to carry computer-readable electronic data or instructions for use in, for example, sending and receiving voice mail, accessing a network such as a cellular network, or instructing a device to perform a specified function. Accordingly, the term "machine-readable medium" refers to various physical media (but not to vacuum) capable of storing, containing, and/or carrying instructions and/or data. Additionally, the systems and methods described herein may be deployed as a machine-readable medium as part of a wireless channel capable of storing, containing, and/or carrying instruction(s) and/or data. Of course, those skilled in the art will recognize many variations that may be made to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention described and claimed herein.

Moreover, the word "exemplary" is used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any aspect or design described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs. Rather, use of the word exemplary is intended to present concepts in a concrete fashion. As used in this application, the term "or" is intended to mean a compatible "or" rather than an exclusive "or". That is, unless otherwise specified or clear from context, "X employs a or B" is intended to mean any of the essentially compatible permutations. That is, if X employs A; x is B; or X employs both A and B, then in either of the foregoing cases, "X employs A or B" is true. In addition, the articles "a" and "an" as used in this application and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean "one or more" unless specified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singular form.

As used herein, the terms to "infer" or "inference" refer broadly to the process of reasoning about or inferring states of the system, environment, and/or user from a set of observations as captured via events and/or data. Inference can be employed to identify a specific context or action, or can generate a probability distribution over states, for example. The inference can be probabilistic-that is, the computation of a probability distribution over states of interest based on a consideration of data and events. Inference can also refer to techniques employed for composing higher-level events from a set of events and/or data. Such inference results in the construction of new events or actions from a set of observed events and/or stored event data, whether or not the events are correlated in close temporal proximity, and whether the events and data come from one or several event and data sources.

The techniques described herein may be used for various wireless communication networks such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) networks, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) networks, orthogonal FDMA (ofdma) networks, single carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks, and the like. The terms "network" and "system" are often used interchangeably. A CDMA network may implement radio technologies such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), CDMA2000, and so on. UTRA includes wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA), TD-SCDMA, and TD-CDMA. cdma2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. TDMA networks may implement radio technologies such as global system for mobile communications (GSM). OFDMA networks may implement radio technologies such as evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.16, IEEE 802.20, Flash-And the like. UTRA, E-UTRA and GSM are generalUsing part of a mobile telecommunications system (UMTS). Long Term Evolution (LTE) is the upcoming release of UMTS using E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, GSM, UMTS, and LTE are described in documents from an organization named "third Generation partnership project" (3 GPP). CDMA2000 is described in a document from an organization named "third generation partnership project 2(3GPP 2)". These different radio technologies and standards are well known in the art. For clarity, certain aspects of the above techniques are described below in the context of uplink pilot multiplexing, as it applies to LTE, so in much of the description below, 3GPP terminology may be used where appropriate.

As discussed in more detail below, a method and system for configuring a frequency repeater is provided. The frequency repeater is configured with the identity of the service provider and receives a message defining a set of frequencies to be repeated, the frequencies being associated with the service provider matching the pre-configured identity. The digital filter receives incoming signals from the service provider and filters and relays the frequencies defined in the received message. The frequency receiver may also determine a set of frequencies to be filtered and repeated based on a cell search procedure performed with a modem residing in the repeater. Policies established by the service provider may also be used to facilitate the definition of the set of symbols to be relayed. By utilizing signal quality metrics and isolation metrics associated with the performance of the receive and transmit antennas used by the repeater, the set of frequencies to be filtered and repeated can be adjusted in real time.

Referring initially to fig. 1, an exemplary housing of an illustrative repeater in accordance with various aspects described herein is illustrated. The dipole dual patch antenna configuration, along with the repeater electronics, can be efficiently housed in a compact enclosure 100 as shown in fig. 1. The structure of the housing 100 may be such that: it can be intuitively oriented in at least one of two ways; however, the guidelines may guide the user to maximize signal reception in conjunction with placement of the housing. In an exemplary dipole dual patch antenna configuration, the ground plane 113 in combination with the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) of the repeater electronics may be disposed between and parallel to the two patch antennas 114 and 115 using, for example, a holder 120. In many cases, isolation may be improved using isolation gates 112.

Each of the patch antennas 114 and 115 is arranged, for example, parallel to the ground plane 113, and may be printed on a wiring board or the like, may be composed of a stamped metal part embedded within a plastic case, or may be manufactured differently. The planar portion of the PCB associated with the ground plane 113 may include a dipole antenna 111 configured as, for example, an embedded trace on the PCB. Typically, the patch antennas 114 and 115 may be vertically polarized and the dipole antenna 111 horizontally polarized, although other embodiments may be used.

A combination of non-overlapping antenna patterns and reverse polarization may be used to achieve about 40dB of isolation between the receive and transmit antennas in a dual dipole dual patch antenna. In particular, one of the transmitter and receiver communicates with the access point using one of two dual switched patch antennas with vertical polarization, while the other of the transmitter and receiver employs a dipole antenna with horizontal polarization. This approach is particularly applicable when the repeater is intended to relay indoor network signals to indoor clients. In this case, the pattern of the antenna transmitting to the client typically needs to be substantially omnidirectional, which requires the use of a dual dipole antenna, since the direction to the client is unknown.

Fig. 2 depicts an illustrative block diagram of an exemplary signal flow within an illustrative repeater environment 200. As shown, a weak received signal (desired received signal) 220 may be received by antenna element 210 and serve as an input to gain and delay component 205. The gain and delay component 205 may process the weak received signal 220 to produce a strong signal 230 as an output from the antenna element 215. Further, transmit signal leakage 225 into the receiver may also serve as an input to gain and delay 205 at antenna element 210 for use in processing weak received signal 220 to generate strong signal 230. Transmit leakage signal 225 entering the receiver may be generated by a feedback cancellation loop (not shown) operably coupled to antenna elements 210 and 215. That is, the feedback cancellation loop generates signals to be transmitted by the repeater, a portion of which is received by the receiver as transmit leakage signal 225.

Fig. 3 illustrates the interaction of antenna elements of an exemplary repeater environment 300. Exemplary repeater environment 300 includes a printed circuit board 330 that includes dipole antennas 305 and 320 and also includes patch antennas 310 and 315. In an exemplary implementation, a dipole/patch antenna combination can achieve selected isolation between transmit and receive channels to achieve implementation of desired feedback cancellation. The antenna configuration of fig. 3 is an example of a configuration of an antenna array that may be used in other embodiments described herein (where, for example, the patch antenna 310 is part of one antenna array and the patch antenna 315 is part of another antenna array).

Fig. 4 illustrates one side of another antenna configuration for providing selected isolation for an exemplary repeater. The antenna configuration 400 includes a PCB board 405 having one or more patch antennas 410 and 415 mounted thereto. Note that: there may typically be the same number of patch antennas on opposite sides of the PCB, and these patch antennas are typically oriented with opposite or beneficial polarizations with respect to the polarizations of antennas 410 and 415, so that a sufficient or even maximum amount of isolation is achieved between the antennas on the opposite sides of the PCB. In an illustrative implementation, PCB board 405 may include one or more patch antennas 410 and 415 in various configurations, and have more than one pair of patch antennas and a non-even number of corresponding patch antennas making up a superset thereof. The antenna configuration 400 may use the patch antennas 410 and 415 along with a similar number of antenna deployments on opposite sides of the PCB to provide selected isolation between transmit and receive channels (e.g., a transmit channel operatively coupled to one or more patch antennas and a receive channel operatively coupled to one or more patch antennas) to cooperate with isolation and amplification provided by an exemplary cooperating feedback cancellation loop (e.g., a feedback cancellation loop operatively coupled to an antenna array). The configuration of fig. 4 shows another example of an antenna array that may be used in embodiments described herein.

Fig. 5 illustrates an exemplary repeater environment 500 that uses one or more antenna arrays to perform signal conditioning and amplification. The exemplary repeater environment 500 includes a first antenna array 505 having antenna elements 510 and 515, a second antenna array having antenna elements 530 and 535, processing circuitry 545 including multi-transceiver circuitry 520 and a controller 525. As part of the operation of exemplary repeater environment 500, antenna arrays 505 and 540 may cooperate with multi-transceiver circuitry 520, which multi-transceiver circuitry 520 cooperates with controller 525. Signals may be received by antenna arrays 505 and 540 and passed to processing circuitry 545 for signal conditioning and processing, and then transmitted back to antenna arrays 505 and 540 for communication with one or more cooperating components (e.g., base stations of a CDMA wireless communication network).

In an illustrative implementation, antenna arrays 505 and 540 may include additional antenna elements necessary to perform the methods described below to achieve adaptive feedback cancellation achieved through the cooperation of one or more antenna arrays and the application of one or more metrics, such as one or more correlation results. Moreover, the number and configuration of antenna arrays described herein are merely exemplary, as the systems and methods described herein contemplate using a different number of antenna arrays having different configurations and including different numbers of antenna elements.

Fig. 6 illustrates the interaction of an exemplary repeater environment 600. The exemplary repeater environment 600 includes a processing circuit 620, the processing circuit 620 including an antenna array 645 including a first antenna 625 and a fourth antenna 640, a shielded multi-transceiver element 630, and an antenna array 650 including a second antenna element 660 and a third antenna element 655. Operationally, downlink signals 610 originating from the first network 605 may be processed by the processing circuitry 620 to generate relayed downlink signals 665 for communication to the second network 675, while uplink signals originating from the second network 675 may be processed by the processing circuitry 620 to generate relayed uplink signals 615 for communication to the first network 605. The configuration and orientation of antenna arrays 645 and 650 promotes selected isolation of unconditioned uplink and downlink signals provided to processing circuitry 620, as well as promoting desired amplification and gain of such signals.

In an illustrative implementation, the exemplary repeater environment 600 may include additional antenna elements necessary to perform the methods described herein to achieve adaptive feedback cancellation through cooperation of one or more antenna arrays and application of one or more correlation metrics. Further, it should be appreciated that the number and configuration of antenna arrays described herein are merely exemplary, as the systems and methods described herein contemplate using a different number of antenna arrays having a different configuration and including a different number of antenna elements.

Fig. 7 is a block diagram of a four-antenna, multi-transceiver device 700 configured to operate in multiple frequency bands in accordance with various illustrative implementations. This apparatus 700 can use a variable configuration of available antennas to freely transmit signals across two different frequency bands.

As shown in fig. 7, device 700 may include a shielded multi-transceiver element 701 having a first side 710 and a second side 712. Shielded multi-transceiver element 701 includes first band transceivers 732 and 748, first band baseband circuitry 734, second band transceivers 750 and 754, second band baseband circuitry 752, duplexers 724, 726, 728, 730, 738, 740, 744, and 746; commoners 720, 722, 736, and 742; the first side 710 includes antennas 706 and 708; and the second side 712 includes antennas 714 and 716. Although not shown, the device 700 includes at least one electromagnetic isolation element as described above, thereby providing Electromagnetic (EM) isolation between the antennas 706 and 708 on the first side 710 and the antennas 714 and 716 on the second side 712.

By way of illustration, antenna 706 can transmit or receive signal 702; antenna 708 may transmit or receive signal 704; the antenna 714 may transmit or receive signals 756; and antenna 716 may transmit or receive signals 718. These antennas 706, 708, 714, and 716 may be planar (e.g., patch) antennas, or any other desired antenna type that may be effectively isolated from one another.

The first band transceiver 732 is connected to the antennas 706 and 708 through the duplexers 724, 726, 728, and 730 and the duplexers 720 and 722 to transmit or receive data via the antennas 706 and 708. The first band transceiver 748 is connected to the antennas 714 and 742 through the duplexers 738, 740, 744, and 746 and the duplexers 736 and 742 to transmit or receive data via the antennas 714 and 716. A first band baseband circuit 734 is connected between the first band transceiver 732 and the first band transceiver 748 to provide communication between the two circuits.

The second band transceiver 750 is connected to the antennas 706 and 708 through the duplexers 728 and 730 and the duplexers 720 and 722 to transmit or receive data via the antennas 706 and 708. The second band transceiver 754 is connected to the antennas 714 and 716 through the duplexers 738 and 740 and the duplexers 736 and 742 to transmit or receive data via the antennas 714 and 716. Second band baseband circuitry 752 is coupled between second band transceiver 750 and second band transceiver 754 to provide communication between these two circuits.

The diplexers 720, 722 are connected between the antennas 706 and 708 and the duplexers 724, 726, 728, and 730. Which illustratively serve to determine which signals will pass between the antennas 706 and 708 and the first band transceiver 732, and between the antennas 706 and 708 and the second band transceiver 750.

The diplexers 720, 722 are configured to separate signals based on frequency, passing signals of a first frequency band to/from the duplexers 724 and 726, and passing signals of a second frequency band to/from the duplexers 728 and 730.

The duplexers 726, 728 are connected between the duplexers 720, 722 and the first band transceiver 732; and the duplexers 728, 730 are connected between the diplexers 720, 722 and the second band transceiver 750. These duplexers 724, 726, 728, 730 serve to route signals of slightly different frequencies within the first or second frequency bands, respectively, to properly direct transmitted or received signals between the first and second band transceivers 732, 750 and the diplexers 720, 722.

The duplexers 738, 742 are connected between the antennas 714 and 716 and the duplexers 738, 740, 744, and 746. Which are used, for example, to determine which signals will pass between antennas 714 and 716 and first band transceiver 748 and between antennas 714 and 716 and second band transceiver 754.

The diplexers 738, 742 are configured to separate signals based on frequency to pass signals of the second frequency band to and from the duplexers 738 and 740 and to pass signals of the first frequency band to and from the duplexers 744 and 746.

Duplexers 738, 740 are connected between the duplexers 736, 742 and the second band transceiver 754; and duplexers 744, 746 are connected between the diplexers 736, 742 and the first band transceiver 748. These duplexers 738, 740, 744, 746 serve to route signals of slightly different frequencies within the first or second frequency bands, respectively, to properly direct transmitted or received signals between the first and second band transceivers 748 and 754 and the diplexers 736, 742.

In alternative implementations, some of duplexers 724, 726, 728, 730, 738, 740, 744, and 746 or diplexers 720, 722, 736, and 742 may be omitted, as certain arrangements of frequency bands and antennas may be disabled in some embodiments.

In other exemplary implementations, signals from different frequency bands may be specifically assigned to particular transmission orientations. In such embodiments, the outputs of duplexers 724, 726, 728, 730, 738, 740, 744, and 746 may be directly connected to 706, 708, 714, or 716. For example, a first frequency band may be designated to use horizontally oriented transmission/reception, while a second frequency band may be designated to use vertically oriented transmission/reception.

Although the above illustrative implementations show the use of only two or four antennas along with two transceivers, this is by way of example only. Multiple antenna, multiple transceiver devices using different numbers of antennas or transceivers may also be used.

Furthermore, while the above illustrative implementations show the antenna separate from the PCB, alternative embodiments may form the antenna directly on the opposite side of the PCB. In such embodiments, the insulating layer within the PCB may form the required non-conductive support member for separating the antenna from the ground plane. Also, in such embodiments, the transceiver may be formed external to the PCB and connected to the antenna by wiring on the PCB. Such an integrated structure may provide a more compact device.

Figure 8 illustrates an exemplary repeater environment 800 for deploying an FDD single frequency band with a digital interference cancellation system in accordance with performing the exemplary methods described herein. As shown, the exemplary repeater environment 800 includes a duplexer 804, the duplexer 804 operatively coupled to an antenna element for receiving signals from a base station 802 and providing input signals to a transceiver 806, and for receiving signals from the transceiver 806 for processing. Further, the exemplary repeater environment includes a digital repeater baseband component 808 operatively coupled to the transceiver 806 and the transceiver 810, the transceiver 810 operatively coupled to the duplexer 812. In an exemplary implementation, the duplexer is operatively coupled to an antenna element that allows signals to be communicated to a cooperating subscriber component 814 (e.g., a mobile handset).

In illustrative operation, as depicted by the arrowed lines, incident and transmitted signals may be processed by the example repeater environment 800 implementing the example feedback cancellation methods described herein.

Figure 9 illustrates an exemplary repeater environment 900 for deploying FDD single bands with digital interference and antenna arrays in accordance with performing the exemplary methods described herein. As shown, exemplary repeater environment 900 includes duplexers 904, 906, 914, and 916; transceivers 908 and 912; and a digital repeater baseband 910. Duplexers 904, 906, 914, and 916 are operably coupled to one or more antenna elements that can receive/transmit signals to base station 902 and subscriber components 918.

In illustrative operation, as shown by the arrowed lines, received and transmitted signals may be processed by the example repeater environment 900 according to the example feedback cancellation methods described herein.

Fig. 10 depicts an example system 1000 that facilitates configuration of a repeater platform or repeater. In system 1000, the configuration of repeater component 1040 can be conducted according to at least two major protocols: (i) non-authorization and (ii) authorization model. Further, in the authorization model, authorization may be based at least in part on location. In both models, the repeater platform 1040 receives the network information 1035 from the base station 1020 over the communication link. In (i), network information 1035 may comprise a set of identifiers associated with channels that a service provider may use for communication (e.g., data, voice). In an aspect, such network information 1025 may be conveyed in a physical broadcast channel or in-band frame typically associated with the wireless technology used by the service provider. For example, in CDMA2000, network information 1025 may be conveyed in a paging channel. As another example, in 802.11 or 802.16 technologies, a management frame may convey a set of identifiers. In the example system 1000, the planning component 1010 may provide such information. In model (ii), an explicit authorization model may facilitate the configuration of the repeater platform 140. Such authorization may be received through network information 1025.

In an aspect, the repeater platform 1040 includes a modem component 1045 and a filter engine 1055. Additionally, a processor 1065 is coupled to each of such components and may be configured to provide at least a portion of the functionality of modem component 1045 and filter engine 1055. The modem component receives and processes network information (e.g., messages in a control channel or overhead channel, or in the case of 802.11b/g or 802.16e technologies, in a set of management frames) to extract frequency information. The processing of the messages may include demodulation actions to facilitate extraction of the information, such actions may include inverse fast fourier transforms, pruning of cyclic prefixes or related time guard intervals, demodulation according to a particular constellation (BPSK, QPSK, 4-QAM, 16-QAM) used to convey the received data stream, and so forth. Additionally, the modem component can conduct a cell search to detect available carriers and subcarriers (e.g., subbands) and perform time-frequency synchronization. It is to be appreciated that modem component 1045 can also perform other actions associated with demodulation in connection with various wireless communication technologies as is known in the art. It should also be appreciated that although modem component 1045 is illustrated as a single functional block, the modem component may include multiple modems to ensure communication integrity through redundancy.

Note that modem 1045 can facilitate managing repeater platform 1040 operations by a service provider (e.g., via planning component 1010). For example, planning component 1010 may shut down repeater platform 1040 operations at a particular location or for a particular purpose, like network maintenance or reconfiguration (e.g., upon addition of a new base station). Additionally, the planning component can manage repeater operation as a function of network load, sector or cell interference, user-level status, or power allocation scheme of the base station 1020.

Filter engine 1055 typically filters an input signal (e.g., a signal input) at a particular frequency based on received network information 1025. In an aspect, network information may convey a particular set of channels available for communication associated with a particular service, and such channel frequencies are filtered and associated signals are relayed; such as signal output 1085. The filter components may utilize various techniques that enable efficient (e.g., parallel low complexity filtering through a bank of subcarrier-based filters, adaptive equalization based on a signal fed back to signal input 1025, etc.) and beneficial (e.g., selective gain of signal output 1085, substantial antenna isolation between the receiver antenna and the transmitter antenna) operation of the repeater. It should be appreciated that filter engine 1055 may also determine, via, for example, processor 1065, a set of frequencies of an incoming signal (e.g., signal input 1025) to be filtered and relayed. Such a determination may be based on various factors, such as one or more of relay platform 1040 location, cell/sector loading or interference, other sector interference, served user level, network integrity, and so forth.

Fig. 11 illustrates an example repeater platform 1140 in which channel filtering and repeating may be adaptively determined. The repeater platform may include various functional components that provide information that substantially determines the manner in which the repeater operates. Repeater 1140 includes a policy store 1115 that can contain the particular policies associated with available performance metrics (e.g., C/I metrics, isolation metrics with respect to input and output signals) and the operation of the associated repeater platform. Additionally, the policy store may contain policies associated with network operations such as cell/sector loading and interference levels, other sector interference, operating modes (e.g., MIMO, SIMO, SISO) of users in a serving cell including the repeater platform (e.g., 1040 or 1140). It is to be appreciated that the policy store 1115 can reside at least partially in the memory 1075. To adopt the operating policies stored in policy store 1115, configuration component 1125 may configure metrics to be evaluated by, for example, modem component 1045 based on incoming signals (e.g., signal input 1025). In addition, the configuration component 1125 can establish a particular filtering technique and can determine whether the repeater platform 1140 (or alternatively, the repeater 1040) remains operational, turned off, or turned on after not being operational. The processor 1065 is configured to provide at least a portion of the functionality of the configuration component.

In addition, the relay platform 1140 includes a position location engine 1135, which may compute the position of the relay platform 1140 via triangulation or trilateration or by receiving data from another local positioning machine, such as a GPS receiver. In an aspect, the location information generated via the positioning engine 1135 may be stored, for example, in the memory 1075, and the stored information may be used to determine whether the repeater platform 1140 is migrated. It should be appreciated that the resolution of the positioning approach used to determine position generally indicates whether repeater platform 1140 has been relocated. In situations where it is determined that the repeater platform 1140 has been relocated (e.g., based on a comparison to a relocation threshold determined by the resolution of the positioning approach used), the current location is conveyed to the base station 1020 and authorization to operate in the current location may be requested. Additionally, if the repeater platform 1040 determines that the device has been relocated and disables the repeating function, the platform may simply set a status indication (e.g., turn on a trouble light, etc.) to inform the user of the action to be taken, such as calling the service provider to authorize the location of the repeater at the current location.

In another aspect, the location indication 1110 can be conveyed to, for example, the base station 1020 in order for the service provider to employ the location information to determine whether to enable or disable the repeater platform 1040, for example, via the planning component 1010. For example, the repeater platform (e.g., 1140 or 1040) may be located at a location that compromises network integrity, and thus the service provider (via planning component 1010) may shut down the repeater platform. It should be appreciated that the latter is an example of network management provided by modem component 1045. Note that the processor 1065 is configured to perform at least a portion of the calculations required to generate the location information. Additionally, the positioning engine 1135 may receive location information from a GPS (not shown). It should be appreciated that the positioning engine 1135 may rely on substantially any source of positioning information.

The relay platform component 1140 may also include a display component 1145 that may communicate status information associated with the operation of the relay platform 1140. The display component 1145 typically interfaces an actor (e.g., a human agent or machine) with the repeater platform 1140. The status information may include an indication of a performance metric or operational status associated with the relay platform 240, which may be conveyed by indicia such as a lighting bar or dot in the housing assembly of the relay platform. It will be appreciated that other types of indicia (e.g., LCD or other visual devices and buzzers or other forms of audible indicators) are possible.

FIG. 12A illustrates example contents 1205 of a policy store 1115. The policy content 1205 may be stored as a document, file, record, etc. in memory. Such content may include a set of available communication channels and instructions on how to filter/relay signals in those channels; a network integrity indicator, a user-level status; network loading, cell/sector interference, etc. It should be appreciated that policy store 1155 may be encrypted to maintain content integrity.

Fig. 12B illustrates an example filter mask that may be received in network information 1035, for example, as a list of sub-bands or channels to filter. Modem 1045 may demodulate the message via processor 1065 and communicate the received channel list to filter component 1055. The list of channels or sub-bands is then filtered or allowed to pass, depending on the indication received in connection with the list, and information contained in the grant channels (e.g., channels allowed to pass through the filter) may be relayed according to the aspects described above.

In an alternative or additional aspect, configuration component 1125 can access policy store 1115 and determine that a set of stored rules is satisfied at a current operating location (e.g., a location at which repeater platform 1140 is authorized to operate); for example, based on a metric policy that monitors the C/I metric of the received messages carrying the network information 1035 and determines that a particular percentage of a predetermined number of messages exhibit a metric above a threshold. Accordingly, the configuration component can authorize, via the processor 1165, operations in view of consistent channel quality of received messages.

In an alternative or additional aspect, configuration component 1125 can access policy store 1115 and determine that a set of stored rules is satisfied at a current operating location (e.g., a location at which repeater platform 1140 is authorized to operate); for example, based on a metric policy that monitors the C/I metric of the received messages carrying the network information 1035 and determines that a particular percentage of a predetermined number of messages exhibit a metric above a threshold. Accordingly, the configuration component can authorize, via the processor 1165, operations in view of consistent channel quality of received messages.

Cellular filter masking for UL (e.g., masking 1250) and DL (e.g., masking 1255) to pass B1 and B2 bands, but masking to filter out a1 and a2 bands, is illustrated in fig. 12B. For PCS, the masking for UL 1260 lets D, E, F, C2 and C5 bands pass while blocking A, B, C1 and C3. Similar masking occurs for the masking 1265 for the DL.

Fig. 13 is a block diagram 1300 of an example system that facilitates configuration of a relay platform that employs a network management platform that is different from a service provider operating a wireless network for configuration purposes. The network management platform 1310 includes a planning component 1010 in which substantially all passing messages associated with the configuration of the repeater platform 1040 are managed by the management platform 1310. The network management component 1310 may also receive location information from the base station 1020, which is generated via the positioning engine 1315. Note that to generate the information, communication needs to be established between the base station 1020 and the relay platform 1040. Such communication links may facilitate the base station 1020 receiving messages (e.g., beacon frames generated by the modem 1045) from the repeater platform 1040 and utilizing such messages to determine the current location of the repeater platform 1040. It should be appreciated that higher complexity is generally tolerated in base stations (e.g., 1020), so the position location engine 1315 may also utilize GPS to determine the location of the repeater platform 1040 based on triangulation or trilateration between disparate base stations receiving signals transmitted from the repeater platform 1040. Note that the modem component 1045 in the repeater platform 1040 may communicate its location determined by the positioning engine 1315 to the base station, e.g., in an uplink control channel, which may be used by the network management platform 1310 to determine the location of the repeater platform 1140. Note that GPS is used as one example of a satellite positioning system; however, any type of satellite positioning system may be used (e.g., GPS, Galileo, GLONAS, or a combination, which may be generally referred to as GNSS or global navigation satellite system).

The systems and methods for effectively representing knowledge of the systems and methods described herein may also be applied in the context of parsing data in memory about the same provider. In such a context, the data in memory may not be backed up by physical storage, i.e., it may be used in a graphic solver on a CPU to synchronize nodes. The systems and methods described herein may also be applied in the context of scene graphics, especially as they become further distributed across multi-core architectures and computations are written directly to in-memory data structures such as volume textures.

There are a variety of ways to implement the systems and methods described herein, e.g., an appropriate API, tool kit, driver code, operating system, control, standalone or downloadable software object, etc., that enables applications and services to use the systems and methods to represent and exchange knowledge according to the systems and methods described herein. The systems and methods described herein contemplate using the systems and methods described herein from the perspective of an API (or other software object) and software or hardware objects that perform a knowledge exchange in accordance with the systems and methods described herein. Thus, various implementations of the systems and methods described herein may have aspects that are wholly in hardware, partly in software and partly in hardware, as well as in software.

The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. For the avoidance of doubt, the subject matter disclosed herein is not limited to these examples. Additionally, any aspect or design described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs, nor is it intended to exclude equivalent exemplary structures and techniques as would be known to one of ordinary skill in the art. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms "includes," "has," "includes," and other similar words are used in either the detailed description or the claims, such terms are intended, for the avoidance of doubt, to include, without excluding any additional or other elements, in a manner similar to the term "comprising" as an open transition word.

As mentioned above, while exemplary embodiments of the systems and methods described herein have been described in connection with various computing devices or network architectures, the underlying concepts may be applied to any computing device or system in which it is desirable to synchronize data with another computing device or system. For example, the synchronization process of the systems and methods described herein may be applied to an operating system of a computing device, as a separate object on the device, as part of another object, as a reusable control, as an object downloadable from a server, as a "middle man" between a device or object and a network, as a distributed object, as a hardware setting or setting in memory, as a combination of any of the foregoing, and so forth.

Thus, the methods and apparatus of the systems and methods described herein, or certain aspects or portions thereof, may take the form of program code (i.e., instructions) embodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, hard drives, or any other machine-readable storage medium, wherein, when the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine, such as a computer, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the systems and methods described herein. In the case of program code execution on programmable computers, the computing device will generally include a processor, a storage medium readable by the processor (including volatile and non-volatile memory and/or storage elements), at least one input device, and at least one output device. One or more programs that implement or utilize the synchronization services and/or processes of the systems and methods described herein, e.g., through the use of a data processing API, reusable controls, or the like, are preferably implemented in a high level procedural or object oriented programming language to communicate with a computer system. However, programs may be implemented in assembly or machine language, if desired. In any case, the language may be a compiled or interpreted language, and combined with hardware implementations.

The methods and apparatus of the systems and methods described herein may also be practiced via communications embodied in the form of program code that is transmitted over some transmission medium, such as over electrical wiring or cabling, through fiber optics, or via any other form of transmission, wherein, when the program code is received and loaded into and executed by a machine, such as an EPROM, a gate array, a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), a client computer, or the like, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the systems and methods described herein. When implemented on a general-purpose processor, the program code combines with the processor to provide a unique apparatus that operates to perform the functions of invoking the systems and methods described herein. Additionally, any storage techniques used in connection with the systems and methods described herein may invariably be a combination of hardware and software.

Furthermore, the disclosed subject matter may be implemented as a system, method, apparatus, or article of manufacture to control various aspects described in detail herein, using standard programming and/or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof. The term "article of manufacture" (or alternatively "computer program product") as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media. For example, computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to, magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips.), optical disks (e.g., Compact Disk (CD), Digital Versatile Disk (DVD)), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., memory card, memory stick). Additionally, it should be appreciated that a carrier wave can be employed to carry computer-readable electronic data such as those used in transmitting and receiving electronic mail or in accessing a network such as the Internet or a Local Area Network (LAN).

The above system has been described with respect to interaction between some components. It should be appreciated that such systems and components can include those components or specified sub-components, some of the specified components or sub-components, and/or additional components, as well as various permutations or combinations of the foregoing. Sub-components can also be implemented as components communicatively coupled to other components rather than included within parent components (hierarchical). Additionally, it should be noted that one or more components may be combined into a single component providing aggregate functionality or divided into several sub-components, and any one or more middle layers, such as a management layer, may be provided to communicatively couple to such sub-components in order to provide an integrated functionality set. Any components described herein may also interact with one or more other components not specifically described herein but generally known by those of skill in the art.

In view of the exemplary systems described above, methodologies that may be implemented in accordance with the disclosed subject matter will be better appreciated with reference to the flow charts of fig. 14, 15, and 16. While, for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the methodologies are shown and described as a series of blocks, it is to be understood and appreciated that the claimed subject matter is not limited by the order of the blocks, as some blocks may occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other blocks from what is depicted and described herein. In the case where non-sequential or branched flow is illustrated via a flow diagram, it can be appreciated that various other branches, flow paths, or orders of the blocks may be implemented, which may achieve the same or similar results. Moreover, not all illustrated blocks may be required to implement the methodologies described hereinafter.

Fig. 14 illustrates an example method for configuring a frequency repeater. In an aspect, the frequency repeater may be a repeater platform similar to platform 1040 described above. In act 1410, the frequency repeater is configured with the identity of the service provider. In an aspect, such configurations may be stored in a memory, such as policy store 1115, in the frequency repeater. In act 1420, the frequency repeater is positioned in a location where the repeater receives a signal transmitted by a service provider that matches the preconfigured identity. It is to be appreciated that a display component (e.g., component 1145) that coordinates performance metrics of signals received from preconfigured service providers can be utilized to identify such locations. Frequency repeaters are placed at various locations and located once the display indicia reflect that the performance metric reaches a particular level. In act 1430, a message is received from the pre-configured service provider that defines a set of frequency channels used by or available to the service. It should be appreciated that messages may be conveyed according to the technology used for communication; for example, in a Wi-Fi network, messages may be communicated through a set of management frames, while in WCDMA, CDMA, or LTE systems, messages may be conveyed in a broadcast channel. In act 1440, the digital filter is configured to pass exclusively the received set of frequencies. It should be appreciated that the filter may also be configured according to policies stored in the repeater. In act 1450, the filtered, or passed, frequency may be relayed.

Fig. 15 illustrates a method of adaptively configuring a repeater based on performance metrics. In act 1510, a quality metric of the signal to be relayed is measured. At act 1520, it is checked whether the quality metric is above a threshold. In act 1530, a measure of isolation between the receive and transmit antennas is measured, and in act 1540 it is checked whether the measure is above a predetermined threshold. At act 1550, a status indication (e.g., indication of "good") of an operational status indicator of the repeater is enabled and all repeating functions are enabled. In act 1560, the performance metrics of the repeater are monitored, and in act 1570 it is checked whether the performance is above a threshold. In the event that performance is above a threshold, act 1550 is implemented. Conversely, at act 1580, the status of the repeater indicates disabled (e.g., indicating ═ failure) and the repeating function is disabled. The performance metrics are then rechecked to monitor whether a "fault" condition still exists.

Fig. 16 illustrates a method of managing the operating state of a frequency repeater based on a change in location. At act 1610, an authorization message is received at a first operational location. In act 1620, location information is stored. The information may be stored in a memory (e.g., memory 1065) in the frequency receiver. In action 1630, it is checked whether a change has been made from the first operational position to the current position. The frequency repeater is disabled when the current position has changed relative to the first position. At act 1650, it is checked whether authorization is given. Such authorization may enable the frequency repeater to operate at the current location. In act 1660, an overhead channel message is received at the current location. In act 1670, a frequency to be repeated is extracted from the received overhead channel. In act 1680, the filter set is configured to pass the authorized frequencies.

Fig. 17 illustrates an example system 1600 that facilitates configuration of a frequency repeater. The system comprises: a module 1710 for configuring the frequency repeater with the identity of the service provider; a module 1720 for locating a frequency repeater in a location where the frequency repeater receives a signal transmitted by a service provider matching a preconfigured identity; a module 1730 for receiving a message from a service provider defining a set of frequency channels with available services; a module 1740 for configuring the digital filter to exclusively pass the received set of frequencies; and a module 1750 for relaying the passed frequencies.

Note that modules as described herein may include hardware, software, or a combination thereof. That is, the structure for implementing the module includes a structure using software stored in a machine-readable medium, hardware, and a combination of hardware and software.

Further, it is to be appreciated that various portions of the systems disclosed above and the methods below can include or incorporate artificial intelligence or knowledge or rule based components, sub-components, processes, devices, methods or mechanisms (e.g., support vector machines, neural networks, expert systems, bayesian belief networks, fuzzy logic, data fusion engines, classifiers, etc.). Such components, and others, may automate certain mechanisms or processes performed thereby to make portions of the systems and methods more adaptive as well as efficient and intelligent.

While the system and method described herein has been described in connection with the preferred embodiments of the various figures, it is to be understood that other similar embodiments may be used or modifications and additions may be made to the described embodiment for performing the same function of the system and method described herein without deviating therefrom. For example, while exemplary network environments of the systems and methods described herein are described in a networked environment, such as a peer-to-peer networked environment, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the systems and methods described herein are not limited thereto, and that the methods as described herein may apply to any computing device or environment, whether wired or wireless, such as a gaming station, handheld computer, portable computer, etc., and may be applied to any number of such computing devices connected via a communications network and interacting across the network. Furthermore, it should be emphasized that a variety of computer platforms, including handheld device operating systems and other application specific operating systems are contemplated, especially as the number of wireless networked devices continues to proliferate.

Although exemplary embodiments refer to utilizing the systems and methods described herein in the context of a particular programming language architecture, the systems and methods described herein are not limited thereto, but may be implemented in any language to provide a method of representing and exchanging knowledge of a set of nodes in accordance with the systems and methods described herein. Moreover, the systems and methods described herein may be implemented in or across a plurality of processing chips or devices, and storage may similarly be effected across a plurality of devices. Rather, the systems and methods described herein should not be limited to any single embodiment, but rather should be construed in breadth and scope in accordance with the appended claims.

Claims (26)

1. A method for configuring a frequency repeater in a wireless environment, the method comprising:

configuring the frequency repeater with the identity of the service provider,

locating the frequency repeater in a location where the frequency repeater receives a signal transmitted by the service provider matching a preconfigured identity;

receiving a message from the service provider defining a set of frequency channels with available services;

configuring a digital filter to pass exclusively through the received set of frequencies; and

relaying the passed frequency.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring a filter to pass exclusively through the set of received frequencies further comprises:

receiving an overhead channel carrying an indication of the set of frequencies;

extracting the set of frequencies from the indication within the overhead channel.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein finding a location further comprises performing at least one of triangulation or trilateration to determine the frequency repeater location.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein finding a location further comprises:

measuring a quality metric of a carrier signal to be relayed; and

measuring an isolation metric between receive and transmit antennas operating in the repeater when the quality metric is above a predetermined threshold.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein finding a location further comprises:

monitoring a repeater performance metric; and

setting an operational status indication based at least in part on at least one of the measured isolation metric or the magnitude of the performance metric.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising receiving a location indication from a positioning engine.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the status indication comprises at least one of a "good" value when the measured isolation metric is above a threshold or a "failed" value when the measured isolation metric is below a threshold.

8. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving an authorization message at a first operational location;

storing location information in the repeater;

evaluating whether a current location is different from the first operational location;

upon detecting that the operating position has changed, disabling repeater operation.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving a channel overhead message;

extracting a frequency to be repeated from the overhead channel; and

configuring the filter to repeat the frequency.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising requesting authorization to relay frequencies in a second operating location.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of frequencies to be repeated is acquired in a cell search of a cellular signal.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the cell search is performed by a modem residing in the relay.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of frequencies to be repeated comprises a set of frequency subbands within an operating band of the service provider.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of frequencies to be relayed comprises a predetermined set of frequencies associated with the service provider.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the predetermined set of frequencies is stored in the frequency repeater.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of frequencies to be repeated comprises a set of frequencies determined by an operating strategy stored in the frequency repeater.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the service provider establishes the operating policy.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the network management service establishes the operational policy.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the relay policy is based at least in part on at least one of a number of available channels, network integrity, user-level status.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the relay policy is based at least in part on at least one of a serving cell load, a serving cell interference level, or a power allocation scheme predetermined by the service provider.

21. A wireless device, comprising:

a processor configured to store an identity of a service provider; receiving a message from the service provider defining a set of frequency channels with available services, wherein the service provider matches the stored identity of the service provider; configuring a digital filter to pass exclusively through the received set of frequencies; and relaying the passed frequency; and

a memory coupled to the processor.

22. The wireless device of claim 21, wherein the processor is further configured to measure a quality metric of a carrier signal to be relayed; and determining an isolation metric between receive and transmit antennas operating in the repeater.

23. The wireless device of claim 21, wherein the processor is further configured to monitor a repeater performance metric; and setting an operational status indication based at least in part on at least one of the measured isolation metric or the magnitude of the performance metric.

24. The wireless device of claim 21, wherein the processor is further configured to receive a location indication from a positioning engine.

25. An apparatus that operates in a wireless environment, the apparatus comprising:

means for configuring the frequency repeater with the identity of a service provider,

means for locating the frequency repeater in a location where the frequency repeater receives a signal transmitted by the service provider matching a preconfigured identity;

means for receiving a message from the service provider defining a set of frequency channels with available services;

means for configuring a digital filter to pass exclusively through the received set of frequencies; and

means for relaying the passed frequency.

26. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium, comprising:

code for causing a computer to find a location of a largest signal exhibiting a carrier;

code for causing a computer to receive a set of frequencies to be repeated, the frequencies associated with a waveform of the carrier wave;

code for causing a computer to configure a filter to pass exclusively through the received set of frequencies, the filter being a digital filter; and

code for causing a computer to relay the passed frequency.