Integrated personal/cellular communications system architecture

Claim 2

The personal communications network (PCN) of Claim 1, wherein each of the columns is assigned an exclusive downstream band of channels and wherein the downstream distributor (40, 70) comprises: a cellular downstream converter (60) for converting signals transmitted over the cellular channels by channel units (32) of the respective group to corresponding channels in the downstream band assigned to the corresponding column, and a plurality of radio ports (34), each of the radio ports being disposed within a respective microcell (18), wherein each of the radio ports includes: a downstream receive interface (50) including means for receiving signals converted by the cellular downstream converter to channels within the downstream band assigned to the column of the respective microcell, and a downstream transmit port (52) including a downstream cellular converter (56) for converting signals received by the downstream receive interface to the corresponding cellular channels, and means (38) for transmitting the downstream cellular converted signals to personal communications units over the corresponding cellular channels.

Claim 3

The personal communications network of Claim 2, wherein each downstream band of channels comprises a band of frequency division multiplex (FDM) channels, and the cellular downstream converter comprises a frequency division multiplexer (60) for converting signals transmitted over cellular channels by channel units in the respective group to corresponding FDM channels within the downstream band assigned to the corresponding column.

Claim 4

The personal communications network of Claim 6, wherein the downstream distributor (40, 70) further comprises: a plurality of downstream wideband transmission media (44), each of the downstream wideband transmission media commonly connecting the downstream receive interface (50) of each radio port (32) disposed in a respective row of the grid to the frequency division multiplexer (60) such that signals converted by the frequency division multiplexer are conducted to each of the downstream receive interfaces (50) in the grid.

Claim 5

The personal communications network of Claim 1 further comprising: an upstream distributor (40, 72) for distributing signals transmitted by personal communications units positioned within a respective column to channel units in the group to which the respective column corresponds, wherein signals transmitted over respective cellular channels by the personal communications units are distributed to channel units which transmit over the respective cellular channels.

Claim 6

The personal communications network of Claim 5, wherein each of the columns is assigned an exclusive upstream band of channels, and wherein the upstream distributor (40, 72) further comprises: upstream receive ports (52), each of the upstream receive ports being associated with a radio port (32) of the respective column, including means (36) for receiving signals transmitted over cellular channels by personal communications units, and a cellular upstream converter (54) for converting the signals received from the personal communications units to corresponding channels in the upstream band assigned to the respective column; upstream transmit interfaces (50), each of the upstream transmit interfaces being associated with a radio port (32) of the respective column, for transmitting the signals converted by the associated cellular upstream converter over the corresponding channels in the upstream band assigned to the respective column; and an upstream cellular converter (62) for converting signals transmitted by the upstream transmit interfaces of radio ports of the respective column and of columns adjacent to the respective column to the corresponding cellular channels, and for transmitting the upstream-cellular converted signals to channel units in the group to which the respective column corresponds, wherein signals transmitted over respective cellular channels of the set assigned to the respective column by personal communications units within the respective column and the columns adjacent to the respective column are transmitted to channels units which transmit over the respective channels.

Claim 7

The personal communications network of Claim 6, wherein each downstream band of channels and each upstream band of channels comprises a band of frequency division multiplex (FDM) channels, the cellular downstream converter (60) comprising a frequency division multiplexer for converting signals transmitted over cellular channels by channel units in the respective group to corresponding FDM channels within the band assigned to the corresponding column, and the upstream cellular converter (62) comprising a frequency division demultiplexer for converting the signals transmitted over FDM channels by the upstream transmit interfaces (50) of the respective column and of the columns adjacent to the respective column to the corresponding cellular channels within the set assigned to the respective column.

Claim 8

The personal communications network of Claim 7, wherein the downstream distributor (40, 70) further comprises a plurality of downstream wideband transmission media, each of the downstream wideband transmission media (44) commonly connecting the downstream receive interfaces (50) of each radio port (32) disposed in a respective row of the grid to the frequency division multiplexer (60) such that signals converted by the frequency division multiplexer are conducted to each of the downstream receive interfaces in the grid, and wherein the upstream distributor (40, 70) further comprises a plurality of upstream wideband transmission media (46) commonly connecting the upstream transmit interfaces (50) of each radio port (34) disposed in a respective row of the grid to the frequency division demultiplexer (62).

Claim 9

A personal communications network (PCN) for use over allocated cellular communications channels, the PCN comprising a plurality of PCN subnetworks (20), each of the PCN subnetworks comprising: a plurality of microcells (18) arranged in a multi-dimensional grid, the grid defining at least rows and columns of the microcells, wherein cellular communications channels allocated to the subnetwork are divided into sets of the channels and wherein each of the columns of the grid is assigned one of the sets; a multisite diversity controller (68) for receiving signals transmitted by personal communications units positioned within a respective column but received in other columns and comparing the quality of the received signals; and a hand-off controller (30) for reassigning personal communications units from one column to another in response to the comparison by the multisite diversity controller.

Claim 10

A personal communications network (PCN) for use over allocated cellular communications channels, the PCN comprising a plurality of PCN subnetworks (20), each of the PCN subnetworks comprising: a plurality of microcells (18) arranged in a multi-dimensional grid, the grid defining at least rows and columns of the microcells, wherein the allocated cellular channels are divided into sets of the cellular channels and each of the columns of the grid is assigned one of the sets for internal spectral reuse; an upstream distributor (40, 72) for distributing signals transmitted by personal communications units positioned within a respective column to channel units in the group to which the respective column corresponds, wherein signals transmitted over respective cellular channels by the personal communications units are distributed to channel units which transmit over the respective cellular channels; the upstream distributor (40, 72) further comprising means for distributing signals transmitted by personal communications units positioned within columns adjacent to the respective column to channel units (32) in the group to which the respective column corresponds, wherein signals transmitted over respective cellular channels of the set assigned to the respective column by personal communications units within the columns adjacent to the respective column are distributed to channels units which transmit over the respective channels; and a multisite diversity controller for selecting the strongest of the transmitted signals of a respective cellular channel for transmission to a communications switching center of the personal communications network.