Method and apparatus for receiving wireless communications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9832320-B2
Application number	US-201615256836-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 6, 2016
Priority date	Sep 29, 2014
Publication date	Nov 28, 2017
Grant date	Nov 28, 2017

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 first communication signal via a first antenna of the mobile communication device from a first network, wherein the first communication signal comprises a first version of a baseband signal that is modulated with a first carrier signal;
wirelessly receiving, by the mobile communication device, a second communication signal from a second device on a second network, wherein the second communication signal comprises a second version of the baseband signal that is modulated with a second carrier signal by the second device;
selecting, by the mobile communication device, a selected baseband signal from one of the first version of the baseband signal or the second version of the baseband signal according to a difference in signal quality between the first version of the baseband signal and the second version of the baseband signal; and
wirelessly transmitting, by the mobile communication device, a control signal to the second device, wherein the control signal directs 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 first communication signal comprises a long-range communication signal 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.

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

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

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

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

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising wirelessly transmitting, by the mobile communication device, a third control signal to the second device for directing the second device to adjust the filtering configuration.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first communication signal comprises a long-range communication signal 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 data signal, or a combination thereof.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
wirelessly receiving, by the mobile communication device, the first communication signal comprising a 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 signal quality is further determined with respect to the third version of the baseband signal.

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

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first communication signal comprises a long-range communication signal 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.

13. A diversity 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;
demodulating the first information signal from the long-ranged communication signal;
modulating the first information signal with a short-range carrier signal to generate a short-range communication signal;
transmitting the short-range communication signal to a communication device; and
receiving a control signal from the communication device for directing operation of the diversity device.

14. The diversity device of claim 13 , wherein the processor comprises a plurality of processors operating in a distributed processing environment and the operations further comprise: encoding the first information signal into a digital format before the modulating.

15. The diversity device of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise: wirelessly transmitting a control signal to the communication device for directing operation of the communication device.

16. The diversity device of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:
adjusting one of demodulating or modulating the first information signal according to the control signal that is received.

17. The diversity device of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:
wirelessly receiving the long-range communication signal via a plurality of antennas;
extracting a plurality of versions of the first information signal from the first carrier signal of the long-range communication signal that is received via the plurality of antennas; and
selecting a first version of the first information signal from the plurality of versions of the first information signal.

18. The diversity device of claim 13 , wherein the diversity device comprises a peripheral input device for the communication device.

19. A machine-readable storage device comprising executable instructions that, 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 first version of a baseband signal, wherein the long-range communication signal comprises a cellular communication signal;
down-converting a short-range communication signal that is wirelessly received from a second device via a second antenna of the communication device to extract a second version of the baseband signal;
combining the first version of the baseband signal and the second version of the baseband signal to generate an informational signal; and
wirelessly transmitting a control signal to the second device to direct an operation of the second device based on the informational signal.

20. The machine-readable storage device of claim 19 , wherein the processor comprises a plurality of processors operating in a distributed processing environment, and wherein the combining comprises:
adding the first version of the baseband signal to the second version of the baseband signal to determine a combined signal; and
adjusting a first configuration for wirelessly recei

Assignees

• At & T Ip I Lp
• At & T Mobility Ii Llc

Inventors

• Meredith Sheldon Kent
• Lou Yuang
• Kosseifi Mario

Classifications

• H04M11/007 Primary

  with remote control systems (remote control in general G08C) · CPC title

• H04L43/028

  by filtering · CPC title

• H04W4/008

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04B7/0404

  the mobile station comprising multiple antennas, e.g. to provide uplink diversity · CPC title

• H04W88/06

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