Locator and method for a wireless communication system

Claim 2

A passive locator for a base station in a wireless communication system, said locator comprising: a directional antenna that receives a signal from a wireless terminal; a processing circuit responsive to said directional antenna that measures the power of a signal received from the wireless terminal so as to adjust the orientation of said directional antenna by detecting a relative maximum power in the signal from the wireless terminal so as to determine the location of said wireless terminal; and said processing circuit further operable to convert the signal from the wireless terminal into data so as to determine a trajectory of the wireless terminal, said processing circuitry includes a down conversion circuit responsive to said directional antenna that demodulates the signal received from the wireless terminal into in-phase and quadrature signals and further includes first and second phase discriminator circuits responsive to said in-phase and quadrature signals, respectively, that each generate two or more sets of corresponding phase tapped outputs of the signals from said down conversion circuit integrated over a symbol period such that each set corresponds to a selected trajectory with respect to said base station.

Claim 3

The passive locator of claim 1, wherein said computer determines the trajectory of the wireless terminal by calculating the phase and magnitude of the corresponding phase tapped outputs of the first and second phase discriminators and comparing the phase and magnitudes to select the phase tapped output with the largest phase and magnitude.

Claim 4

The locator of claim 1, wherein said directional antenna being directed to the direction of an incoming signal by adjusting azimuthal and elevational angles of said directional antenna.

Claim 5

The locator of claim 1, and further comprising an antenna controller responsive to said processing circuit to adjust said directional antenna.

Claim 6

The locator of claim 1, wherein said directional antenna comprises a gimbal antenna.

Claim 7

The locator of claim 1, wherein said processing circuit comprises: a spectrum analyzer responsive to said directional antenna that measures the power in a signal received from the wireless terminal; and a computer responsive to said spectrum analyzer that compares successive power measurements from said spectrum analyzer so as to generate control signals for said antenna controller.

Claim 8

The locator of claim 1, wherein said processing circuit comprises a circuit that determines the trajectory of the wireless terminal from the Doppler effect on the frequency of the signal of the wireless terminal.

Claim 9

The locator of claim 1, wherein said directional antenna being in addition to at least one antenna which receives signals from said wireless terminal.

Claim 10

The locator of claim 1, wherein said orientation of said directional antenna is mechanically adjusted toward the wireless terminal.

Claim 11

The locator of claim 1, wherein said computer determines the trajectory of the wireless terminal by calculating the phase and magnitude of the corresponding phase tapped outputs of the first and second phase discriminators and comparing the phase and magnitudes to select the phase tapped output with the largest phase and magnitude.

Claim 14

The method of claim 11 further comprises the steps of; calculating the phase and magnitude of the corresponding phase tapped outputs of the first and second phase discriminators; and comparing the phase and magnitudes to select a phase tapped output corresponding to the trajectory of the wireless terminal.

Claim 15

A wireless infrastructure comprising: at least one mobile switching center coupled to a public switched telephone network; and at least one base station responsive to said mobile switching center, said base station including a passive locator circuit, said passive locator circuit comprising: a directional antenna that receives a signal from a wireless terminal; a processing circuit responsive to said directional antenna that measures the power of a signal received from the wireless terminal so as to adjust the orientation of said directional antenna by detecting a relative maximum power in the signal from the wireless terminal so as to determine the location of said wireless terminal; and said processing circuit further operable to convert the signal from the wireless terminal into data so as to determine a trajectory of the wireless terminal, said processing circuitry including a down conversion circuit responsive to said directional antenna that demodulates the signal received from the wireless terminal into in-phase and quadrature signals and first and second phase discriminator circuits responsive to said in-phase and quadrature signals, respectively, that each generate two or more sets of corresponding phase tapped outputs of the signals from said down conversion circuit integrated over a symbol period such that each set corresponds to a selected trajectory with respect to said base station.

Claim 16

A wireless infrastructure comprising: at least one mobile switching center coupled to a public switched telephone network; and at least one base station responsive to said mobile switching center, said base station including a passive locator circuit, said passive locator circuit comprising: a directional antenna that receives a signal from a wireless terminal; a processing circuit responsive to said directional antenna that measures the power of a signal received from the wireless terminal so as to adjust the orientation of said directional antenna by detecting a relative maximum power in the signal from the wireless terminal so as to determine the location of said wireless terminal; and said processing circuit further operable to convert the signal from the wireless terminal into data so as to determine a trajectory of the wireless terminal, said processing circuitry including a down conversion circuit responsive to said directional antenna that demodulates the signal received from the wireless terminal into in-phase and quadrature signals and first and second phase discriminator circuits responsive to said in-phase and quadrature signals, respectively, that each generate two or more sets of corresponding phase tapped outputs of the signals from said down conversion circuit integrated over a symbol period such that each set corresponds to a selected trajectory with respect to said base station.

Claim 17

The wireless infrastructure of claim 13, wherein said computer determines the trajectory of the wireless terminal by calculating the phase and magnitude of the corresponding phase tapped outputs of the first and second phase discriminators and comparing the phase and magnitudes to select the phase tapped output with the largest phase and magnitude.

Claim 20

A base station comprising: a passive locator, comprising: a directional antenna that receives a signal from the wireless terminal; a processing circuit responsive to said directional antenna that measures the power of the signal received from the wireless terminal so as to adjust the orientation of said directional antenna by detecting a relative maximum power in the signal from the wireless terminal so as to determine the position of said wireless terminal; and said processing circuit further including a data generator that converts the signal from the wireless terminal into two or more sets of data for a component signal of the signal from the wireless terminal such that each set corresponds to a trajectory for the wireless terminal, and a computer responsive to the data generator that manipulates the sets of data to determine the trajectory of the wireless terminal from the Doppler effect.

Claim 21

A base station comprising: a passive locator, comprising: a directional antenna that receives a signal from the wireless terminal; a processing circuit responsive to said directional antenna that measures the power of the signal received from the wireless terminal so as to adjust the orientation of said directional antenna by detecting a relative maximum power in the signal from the wireless terminal so as to determine the position of said wireless terminal; and said processing circuit further including a data generator that converts the signal from the wireless terminal into two or more sets of data for a component signal of the signal from the wireless terminal such that each set corresponds to a trajectory for the wireless terminal, and a computer responsive to the data generator that manipulates the sets of data to determine the trajectory of the wireless terminal from the Doppler effect.

Claim 22

The base station of claim 16, wherein said directional antenna being directed to the direction of an incoming signal by adjusting azimuthal and elevational angles of said directional antenna.

Claim 23

The base station of claim 16, and further comprising an antenna controller responsive to said processing circuit to adjust said directional antenna.

Claim 24

The base station of claim 16, wherein said directional antenna comprises a gimbal antenna.

Claim 25

The base station of claim 16, wherein said processing circuit comprises: a spectrum analyzer that measures the power in a signal received from the wireless terminal; and a computer responsive to said spectrum analyzer that compares successive power measurements from said spectrum analyzer so as to generate control signals for said antenna controller.

Claim 26

The base station of claim 16, wherein said processing circuit comprises a circuit that determines the trajectory of the wireless terminal from the Doppler effect on the frequency of the signal of the wireless terminal.

Claim 27

The base station of claim 16, wherein said data generator comprises: a down conversion circuit responsive to said directional antenna that demodulates the signal received from the wireless terminal into in-phase and quadrature signals; and first and second phase discriminator circuits responsive to said in-phase and quadrature signals, respectively, that each generate two or more sets of corresponding phase tapped outputs of the signals from said down conversion circuit integrated over a symbol period such that each set corresponds to a selected trajectory with respect to said base station.

Claim 28

The base station of claim 22, wherein said computer determines the trajectory of the wireless terminal by calculating the phase and magnitude of the corresponding phase tapped outputs of the first and second phase discriminators and comparing the phase and magnitudes to select the phase tapped output with the largest phase and magnitude.

Claim 29

The base station of claim 16, wherein said orientation of said directional antenna is mechanically adjusted toward the wireless terminal.

Claim 30

The base station of claim 16, wherein said directional antenna being in addition to at least one antenna which receives signals from said wireless terminal.

Claim 33

The method of claim 26 further comprising the steps of: calculating the phase and magnitude of the corresponding phase tapped outputs of the first and second phase discriminator circuits; and comparing the phase and magnitudes to select a phase tapped output corresponding to the trajectory of the wireless terminal.

Claim 34

The method of claim 26 further comprising the steps of: measuring the power of the signal transmitted from the wireless terminal to a directional antenna; and adjusting the orientation of the directional antenna until the directional antenna is oriented so as to receive a relative maximum power of the signal from the wireless terminal.