Method and apparatus for receiving wireless communications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9467183-B2
Application number	US-201414500223-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 29, 2014
Priority date	Sep 29, 2014
Publication date	Oct 11, 2016
Grant date	Oct 11, 2016

Abstract

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a method for down-converting a long-range communication signal that is wirelessly received via a first antenna of a communication device to extract a first version of a baseband signal, down-converting a short-range communication signal wirelessly received from a second device via a second antenna of the communication device to extract a second version of the baseband signal from the long-range communication signal that can be received at the second device, which is remote from the communication device, via a second antenna. The first version and second version of the baseband signal can be combined to generate an information signal that can be processed. Other embodiments are disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
wirelessly receiving, by a mobile communication device, a long-range communication signal via a first antenna of the mobile communication device, wherein the long-range communication signal comprises a baseband signal that is modulated with a first carrier signal, and wherein the long-range communication signal comprises a cellular communication signal;
extracting, by the mobile communication device, a first version of the baseband signal from the long-range communication signal that is received via the first antenna;
wirelessly receiving, by the mobile communication device, a short-range communication signal from a second device via a second antenna of the mobile communication device, wherein the short-range communication signal comprises a second version of the baseband signal that is modulated with a second carrier signal by the second device, wherein the second version of the baseband signal is extracted from the long-range communication signal by the second device, and wherein the long-range communication signal is wirelessly received by the second device at a location remote from the mobile communication device;
extracting, by the mobile communication device, the second version of the baseband signal from the short-range communication signal that is received via the second antenna;
determining, by the mobile communication device, a difference in quality of signal between the first version of the baseband signal and the second version of the baseband signal;
selecting, by the mobile communication device, one of the first version of the baseband signal or the second version of the baseband signal according to the difference in quality of signal to identify an information signal;
processing, by the mobile communication device, the information signal that is selected; and
wirelessly transmitting, by the mobile communication device, a data signal to the second device for directing the second device to adjust one of extracting of the second version of the baseband signal, modulating of the second version of the baseband signal, or a combination thereof.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second device comprises a peripheral input device for the mobile communication device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second device comprises a peripheral input device for the mobile communication device.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the long-range communication signal is received via a third antenna of the second device and wherein the third antenna is oriented differently than the first antenna of the mobile communication device.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the short-range communication signal comprises a communication signal compatible with Bluetooth technology.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising wirelessly receiving, by the mobile communication device, a second data signal from the second device for directing an operation by the mobile communication device.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising wirelessly transmitting, by the mobile communication device, a content data signal to the second device for directing an operation by the second device.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of communication signals are received at the second device wherein the long-range communication signal is extracted from the plurality of communication signals that are received by the second device according to a filtering configuration.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising wirelessly transmitting, by the mobile communication device, a second data signal to the second device for directing the second device to adjust the filtering configuration.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the long-range communication signal is decoded by the second device and wherein the second version of the baseband signal comprises a digital representation of one of an audio signal, a video signal, a second data signal, or a combination thereof.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
wirelessly receiving, by the mobile communication device, the long-range communication signal via a third antenna of the mobile communication device; and
extracting, by the mobile communication device, a third version of the baseband signal from the long-range communication signal that is received via the third antenna,
wherein the difference in quality of signal is further determined with respect to the third version of the baseband signal, and wherein the information signal is further selected from the one of the first version, the second version, and the third version of the baseband signal.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the quality of signal comprises one of a signal-to-noise ratio, a frame erasure rate, or a combination thereof.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the long-range communication signal is received by the second device at a plurality of antennas and wherein the second device selects the second version of the baseband signal from a plurality of baseband signals extracted from a plurality of versions of the long-range communication signal received at the plurality of antennas.

14. A device comprising:
a memory to store executable instructions; and
a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, wherein the executable instructions, responsive to being executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations comprising:
wirelessly receiving a long-ranged communication signal comprising a first information signal modulated with a first carrier signal;
extracting a first version of an information signal from the first carrier signal;
modulating the first version of the information signal with a second carrier signal to generate a short-range communication signal; and
transmitting the short-range communication signal to a communication device, wherein the first version of the information signal is extracted from the second carrier signal by the communication device, wherein the communication device receives a second long-ranged communication signal comprising a second version of the information signal, wherein the communication device determines a corruption of contents for the second version of the information signal, and wherein the communication device selects the first version of the information signal for processing over the second version of the information signal based on the corruption of the contents of the second version of the information signal; and
wirelessly transmitting a data signal to the communication device for directing operation of the communication device.

15. The device of claim 14 , further performing operations comprising:
receiving a second data signal from the communication device; and
adjusting one of extracting or modulating the first version of the information signal according to the data signal that is received.

16. The device of claim 14 , further performing operations comprising:
wirelessly receiving the long-range communication signal via a plurality of antennas;
extracting a plurality of versions of the information signal from the first carrier signal of the long-range communication signal that is received via the plurality of antennas; and
selecting the first version of the information signal from the plurality of versions of the information signal.

17. A machine-readable storage device comprising executable instructions which, responsive to being executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations comprising:
down-converting a long-range communication signal that is wirelessly received via a first antenna of a communication device to extract a fi

Assignees

• At & T Ip I Lp
• At & T Mobility Ii Llc
• At&T Intellectaul Property I L P

Inventors

• Meredith Sheldon Kent
• Lou Yuang
• Kosseifi Mario

Classifications

• H04B1/16 Primary

  Circuits · CPC title

• H04B7/02 Primary

  Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas (RAKE receivers H04B1/7115) · CPC title

• H04W4/008

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W88/06

  adapted for operation in multiple networks {or having at least two operational modes}, e.g. multi-mode terminals · CPC title

• H04L25/02

  Details {; arrangements for supplying electrical power along data transmission lines (systems for transmitting signals via power distribution lines H04B3/54)} · CPC title