Radio system having distributed real-time processing

Abstract

A distributed radio system is disclosed. Transmit and receive packets of data are transported over a relatively high-speed multiplexed network, which in one embodiment may be an Ethernet network. The distributed radio system comprises in one embodiment a centrally-located network-level processing unit connected via network connections to one or more intermediate-level processing units. The intermediate-level processing units may be distributed throughout the coverage area. The processing units perform digital signal processing, as well as higher level processing such as signal routing, speech transcoding and proper interfacing to external environments, such as a macrocellular environment. Radio elements are provided that are accurately timed or synchronized, such that the radio elements have their own time base to ensure proper transmission, even when unpredictable network delays occur.

1 . A distributed radio system for communication between a wireless user equipment and a network comprising:
 a radio unit configured to:
 transmit outgoing signals to the user equipment; 
 receive incoming signals from the user equipment; and 
 perform radio-level processing on data associated with received and outgoing signals; 
   an intermediate-level processing unit connected to the radio unit and configured to perform intermediate-level processing on data associated with received and outgoing signals; and   a network-level processing unit connected to the intermediate-level processing unit via a local network and configured to perform network-level processing on data associated with received and outgoing signals;   wherein the network-level processing unit is configured to provide to the wireless user equipment, via the radio unit and the intermediate-level processing unit, access to one or more external telecommunications networks.   
     
     
         2 . The distributed radio system of  claim 1 , wherein the radio-level processing comprises RF processing. 
     
     
         3 . The distributed radio system of  claim 1 , wherein the radio-level processing comprises, with respect to an outgoing signal, performing digital signal processing on data received from the intermediate-level processing unit. 
     
     
         4 . The distributed radio system of  claim 1 , wherein the radio-level processing comprises, with respect to a received signal, performing digital signal processing on data associated with the received signal and sending the processed data to the intermediate-level processing unit. 
     
     
         5 . The distributed radio system of  claim 4 , wherein performing digital signal processing on data associated with the received signal comprises processing the received signal into a form suitable for being communicated via a digital network. 
     
     
         6 . The distributed radio system of  claim 5 , wherein processing the received signal into a form suitable for being communicated via a digital network comprises extracting base-band data from the received signal. 
     
     
         7 . The distributed radio system of  claim 5 , wherein processing the received signal into a form suitable for being communicated via a digital network comprises shifting the received signal down into a frequency range suitable for being processed into digital form by an analog to digital converter. 
     
     
         8 . The distributed radio system of  claim 1 , wherein the intermediate-level processing comprises, with respect to data associated with a received signal, processing said data associated with a received signal into one or more protocol-appropriate data units. 
     
     
         9 . The distributed radio system of  claim 1 , wherein the network-level processing unit is configured to perform speech transcoding. 
     
     
         10 . The distributed radio system of  claim 1 , wherein the intermediate-level processing unit is configured to perform speech transcoding. 
     
     
         11 . The distributed radio system of  claim 1 , wherein the radio unit and the intermediate-level processing unit are connected by a network cable and a timing signal is transmitted from the intermediate-level processing unit to the radio unit via one or more extra wire pairs in said network cable. 
     
     
         12 . The distributed radio system of  claim 1 , wherein the radio unit and the intermediate-level processing unit are connected by a network cable and power is supplied by the intermediate-level processing unit to the radio unit via said network cable. 
     
     
         13 . The distributed radio system of  claim 1 , wherein the radio unit comprises one of a plurality of radio units, each radio unit having a network connection to the intermediate-level processing unit, and each radio unit transmits and receives modulated baseband data traffic to and from the intermediate-level processing unit through its associated network connection. 
     
     
         14 . The distributed radio system of  claim 13 , wherein each radio unit may be configured to support wireless communications under one or more of a plurality of wireless communication standards. 
     
     
         15 . The distributed radio system of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the radio unit comprises one of a plurality of radio units;   the intermediate-level processing unit comprises one of a plurality of intermediate-level processing units;   each radio unit is associated with and has a network connection to a corresponding one of the plurality of intermediate-level processing units; and   each radio unit transmits and receives modulated base-band data traffic to and from the intermediate-level processing unit with which it is associated through its corresponding network connection to said intermediate-level processing unit with which it is associated.