Customer Premises Equipment Relay Mode for Wireless Connectivity
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional wireless systems face challenges in maintaining connectivity for mobile communication devices that are out of range from the main wireless base station, leading to dropped connections and interrupted services.
Innovation Solution
Customer premises equipment (CPE) operates in a relay mode to detect and re-establish connectivity between mobile devices and the wireless base station by creating a secondary communication link, ensuring continuous communication even when the base station fails to respond to initial requests, and allocates wireless channels for this purpose.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional wireless systems use direct communication between mobile devices and base station, then communication simplicity is maintained, but connectivity reliability deteriorates when devices are out of range
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces customer premises equipment (CPE) as an intermediary device to relay communications between mobile devices and the base station. When a mobile device is out of direct range of the base station, the CPE acts as a mediator that receives signals from the mobile device and forwards them to the base station, and vice versa. This intermediary approach maintains connectivity reliability without requiring complex direct communication protocols between distant devices and base stations.
2Area of stationary object
If wireless base station increases transmission power to extend coverage, then network coverage area is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the communication function by introducing intermediate CPE devices that handle local signal relay. Instead of requiring the base station to transmit at high power to cover the entire area, the coverage area is segmented into zones served by different CPEs. Each CPE operates with lower transmission power to serve its local area, collectively extending the overall network coverage without requiring the base station to consume excessive energy.
3Area of stationary object
If customer premises equipment operates in relay mode to extend coverage, then network coverage is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent designs the CPE to be multi-functional, capable of operating in both standard mode (normal wireless communication) and relay mode (acting as a communication bridge). This universality allows the same device to perform multiple functions without requiring separate specialized equipment. The CPE can dynamically switch between modes based on network conditions, extending coverage when needed while maintaining simplicity during normal operation.
Data Source
AI summary
A wireless network environment includes communication management hardware such as disposed in customer premises equipment. The communication management hardware detects a request communication from a mobile communication device, the request communication transmitted from the mobile communication device to a wireless base station. In response to detecting the request communication, the customer premises equipment monitors for reply communication from the wireless base station. The communication management hardware detects failure of the wireless base station to respond to the request communication. In response to detecting the failure, the communication management hardware operates in a relay mode to provide the mobile communication device connectivity with the wireless base station.