Antenna apparatus, antenna system, and antenna electrical tilting method

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

0001The present invention relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to an antenna apparatus, an antenna system, and an antenna electrical tilting method in a base station system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

0002Electrical tilting antennas have become the mainstream in mobile communication systems. An electrical tilting antenna refers to a mobile antenna for which the down-tilt angle is adjusted electrically. A maintenance system located in a base station adjusts the electrical down-tilt angle of the antenna for network optimization.

0003<figref idref="f0001">FIG. 1</figref> is a schematic diagram of a base station system including an electrical tilting antenna, which includes an antenna tower, an antenna, a remote control unit (Remote Control Unit, RCU), a remote radio unit (Remote Radio Unit, RRU), and a base band unit (Base Band Unit, BBU). The RRU is connected with the antenna and used for receiving and transmitting signals by using the antenna. A motor is arranged inside the RCU, and the motor is connected with a phase shifter (not shown in the figure) inside the antenna through a transmission apparatus (for example, a connecting rod, not shown in the figure). During operation, the motor drives, through the transmission apparatus, the phase shifter to move, thereby adjusting the electrical down-tilt angle of the antenna. During the adjustment process, configuration data for controlling the driving and moving length is different because of different types of antenna phase shifters and different transmission and moving distances. The RCU needs to load different configuration data for different antennas having different antenna phase shifters, so that the RCU can move in a correct route and correctly adjust the electrical down-tilt angle of the antenna. This requires identifying an antenna device first, recording information about each antenna when the antenna device is added to the base station maintenance system, and loading correct configuration data to the RCU according to the information, so that the electrical tilting antenna is correctly and precisely controlled by using the RCU to control the movement of the phase shifter.

0004A data configuration method adopted in the prior art is that: at the system installation and configuration phase, after installing the RCU on the tower, the installation personnel write down information such as the RCU serial numbers and corresponding antenna frequency bands, and then add the RCU to the base station maintenance system and configure relevant data for each RCU to control the antennas corresponding thereto. During the process of implementing the present invention, the inventor finds that in practice, the following cases tend to occur: an RCU serial number may be written down incorrectly, or a serial number written down does not correspond to that of the RCU, or the RCU serial number written down does not match the information of the antenna to be actually connected. These cases result in incorrect information on the base station maintenance platform and incorrect configuration for the antennas. Consequently, the network fails to be optimized correctly. To correct the information, the installation personnel need to mount over the tower and read and write down the information again, causing repeated operations which wastes manpower and resources.

0005If the RCU is built in the antenna and the configuration data is already loaded when the RCU is delivered from the factory, only sector information of the antenna needs to be recorded at the installation site. However, this causes a problem that the RCU occupies the internal volume of the antenna, resulting in a large antenna volume. And if the RCU board and motor are built in the antenna, if the board or motor is faulty, it is difficult to dismantle them, and even if they are dismantled, the antenna is damaged and cannot be maintained.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

0006An embodiment of the present invention provides an antenna, configured to be used in conjunction with an RCU (Remote Control Unit, external remote control unit), and including a readable and writable memory which is configured to store configuration data of the antenna and antenna information corresponding to the configuration data, where when the configuration data is loaded to the RCU, the RCU is enabled to drive a motor to move according to the configuration data, so as to adjust an electrical down-tilt angle of the antenna.

0007An embodiment of the present invention further provides an antenna system, including an antenna apparatus and an external remote control unit RCU used in conjunction with the antenna apparatus, where the antenna apparatus includes a readable and writable memory and a motor.

0008The readable and writable memory is configured to store configuration data of an antenna and antenna information corresponding to the configuration data, where when the configuration data is loaded to the RCU, the RCU drives the motor inside the antenna to move according to the configuration data to adjust an electrical down-tilt angle of the antenna.

0009An embodiment of the present invention further provides an antenna electrical tilting method, including the following steps: <ul id="ul0001" list-style="none" compact="compact"><li>retrieving configuration data which corresponds to antenna information and is stored in a readable and writable memory inside an antenna according to the antenna information;</li><li>loading the configuration data to an external remote control unit RCU; and</li><li>driving a motor inside the antenna to move according to the configuration data to adjust an electrical down-tilt angle of the antenna.</li></ul>

0010In the embodiments of the present invention, a readable and writable memory is disposed inside an antenna to store corresponding configuration data of the antenna, so that an external device can conveniently call the configuration data to configure the RCU and to remotely control the electrical down-tilt angle of the antenna. This reduces the human error rate, reduces the installation cost, improves the accuracy of project implementation, and facilitates maintenance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

0011In order to illustrate the technical solutions according to the embodiments of the present invention more clearly, accompanying drawings required for describing the embodiments or the prior art are introduced briefly below. Apparently, the accompanying drawings in the following description are merely some embodiments of the present invention, and persons of ordinary skill in the art may further obtain other drawings according to the accompanying drawings without creative efforts. <ul id="ul0002" list-style="none" compact="compact"><li><figref idref="f0001">FIG. 1</figref> is a schematic diagram of a base station system using an antenna of the prior art;</li><li><figref idref="f0001">FIG. 2</figref> is a schematic structural diagram of an antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention;</li><li><figref idref="f0002">FIG. 3</figref> is a schematic structural diagram of an antenna according to another embodiment of the present invention;</li><li><figref idref="f0003">FIG. 4</figref> is a schematic structural diagram of an antenna according to another embodiment of the present invention;</li><li><figref idref="f0004">FIG. 5</figref> is a schematic structural diagram of an antenna system of the present invention; and</li><li><figref idref="f0004">FIG. 6</figref> is a flowchart of an antenna electrical tilting method of the present invention.</li></ul>

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

0012To make the objective, technical solutions, and advantages of the present invention clearer, the present invention is described below in further detail with reference to specific embodiments and relevant accompanying drawings.

0013An embodiment of the present invention provides an antenna apparatus, configured to be used in conjunction with an RCU (Remote Control Unit, external remote control unit), and including a motor, a phase shifter, and a readable and writable memory.

0014The readable and writable memory is configured to store configuration data of an antenna and antenna information corresponding to the configuration data, where when the configuration data is loaded to the RCU, the RCU is enabled to drive the motor to move according to the configuration data. The antenna information optionally includes one or more of all antenna models, antenna frequency bands, and antenna serial numbers, so that the RCU can obtain the configuration data of the corresponding antenna to be loaded to the RCU from the readable and writable memory according to the antenna models in the antenna information, or obtain the configuration data of the corresponding antenna to be loaded to the RCU according to the antenna frequency bands.

0015The motor is configured to drive, through rotation thereof, the phase shifter to move to adjust the electrical down-tilt angle of the antenna. It should be understood that after the RCU loads the configuration data of the antenna, the motor may drive the phase shifter to move according to an instruction issued by the RCU to adjust the electrical down-tilt angle of the antenna. Alternatively, after the RCU loads the configuration data of the antenna, the motor may be connected with the phase shifter of the antenna through a structural transmission part, and then drive the structural transmission part to move when the motor is operating, so as to drive the phase shifter of the antenna to move.

0016In the embodiment of the present invention, a readable and writable memory is disposed inside an antenna to store corresponding configuration data of the antenna, so that an external device can conveniently call the configuration data to configure the RCU and to remotely control the electrical down-tilt angle of the antenna. This reduces the human error rate, reduces the installation cost, improves the accuracy of project implementation, and facilitates maintenance.

0017Referring to <figref idref="f0001">FIG. 2</figref>, an embodiment of the present invention provides an antenna 200, and a readable and writable storage unit 210 is installed inside the antenna 200. Configuration data and antenna information of the antenna may be written to the readable and writable storage unit 210 during production. The antenna information inside the readable and writable storage unit 210 includes information such as antenna frequency bands, antenna serial numbers, and configuration data of antennas of all models. Optionally, an external reading and writing device 100 is installed outside the antenna 200. The external reading and writing device 100 performs read and write operations on the readable and writable storage unit 210 inside the antenna, first reads the antenna information, then retrieves the configuration data of the corresponding antenna 200 from the readable and writable storage unit 210 inside the antenna 200 according to information such as the antenna model in the antenna information, and then loads the configuration data to an external remote control unit RCU, thereby correctly adjusting the electrical down-tilt angle of the antenna.

0018It can be seen that the external reading and writing device 100 may be a separate device, or may be built in a tower mounted device which is connected with the antenna, for example, an RCU, or a tower mounted amplifier (Tower Mounted Amplifier, TMA).

0019In the base station system, to facilitate system maintenance, a visualization window unit connected with the RCU and configured to obtain antenna information may be added. A query command is delivered through the visualization window unit to control the external reading and writing device to perform the operation of obtaining the antenna information, thereby easily and conveniently obtaining the required antenna information and configuring the antennas. If the configuration data of the antenna is changed later, the antenna configuration data of the readable and writable memory inside the antenna may also be changed through the visualization window unit.

0020Optionally, data may be communicated between the readable and writable storage unit 210 inside the antenna and the external reading module by using wired communication or wireless communication.

0021Referring to <figref idref="f0002">FIG. 3</figref>, data is communicated between the readable and writable storage unit 210 inside the antenna 200 and the external reading module 100 by using wireless communication. The readable and writable storage unit inside the antenna is an electronic label RFID Tag 300. The external reading and writing device is optionally built in an RCU 400. The RCU 400 may obtain antenna information directly from the electronic label 300 of the antenna 200, read configuration data from the electronic label 300 according to the antenna information, and load the configuration data to the RCU 400. Here, a base station system 500 may obtain, through a query command, information about the antenna connected with the RCU, or deliver a command to directly load the configuration data to the RCU.

0022Referring to <figref idref="f0003">FIG. 4</figref>, a device connected with an antenna is connected with a storage chip board inside the antenna through connection wires to provide power supply and control signals required by the storage chip inside the antenna. Signal interfaces on the wires may be 12C or SPI interfaces.

0023It should be understood that, in the embodiment of the present invention, since a readable and writable memory is disposed inside an antenna to store corresponding configuration data of the antenna, an external device can conveniently call the configuration data to configure the RCU, so that: 1. the RCU serial number and antenna information can be automatically recognized; for example, during project installation, it is not necessary to manually write down the RCU serial numbers and antenna information, a corresponding relationship between the RCU and the antenna is obtained by using a query function of the base station, and the configuration data in the storage unit inside the antenna is read and automatically loaded to the RCU; 2. the project installation time is reduced, and the error rate caused by manually writing down information is reduced; for example, the error rate of writing down and inputting information is inevitable, which is prone to mistakes, wastes time, and increases the cost; after this solution is used, the human mistakes will be avoided, and the project quality and installation efficiency will be improved; and 3. future maintenance is facilitated; for example, if an electrical tilting antenna is faulty and software or configuration data is lost, the configuration data needs to be loaded again, which requires mounting over the tower to write down RCU and corresponding information again; however, by using this solution, the antenna information corresponding to the RCU may be automatically obtained to acquire the configuration data, thereby achieving automatic loading.

0024Referring to <figref idref="f0004">FIG. 5</figref>, an antenna system 1 provided by an embodiment of the present invention includes an antenna apparatus 200, an external reading and writing device 100, and an RCU 400. The external reading and writing device 100 is built in the RCU 400.

0025As described in the foregoing embodiments, the antenna apparatus may be used in conjunction with an external remote control unit, and the antenna apparatus includes a phase shifter, a readable and writable memory, and a motor. The phase shifter is configured to adjust an electrical down-tilt angle of the antenna. The motor is configured to drive the phase shifter to move to adjust the electrical down-tilt angle of the antenna. The readable and writable memory is configured to store configuration data of the antenna and antenna information corresponding to the configuration data. When the configuration data is loaded to the RCU, the RCU drives the motor inside the antenna to move according to the configuration data, so as to drive the phase shifter inside the antenna to move, thereby adjusting the electrical down-tilt angle of the antenna.

0026In this embodiment, the external reading and writing device 100 is configured to perform read and write operations on the readable and writable storage unit 210 inside the antenna. The external reading and writing device 100 first reads the antenna information, then retrieves the configuration data of the antenna 200 from the readable and writable storage unit 210 according to the antenna information, and then loads the configuration data to the RCU 400.

0027Optionally, the antenna system 1 further includes a visualization window unit 600. A query command is delivered through the visualization window unit 600 to control the external reading and writing device 100 to obtain the antenna information.

0028In the embodiment of the present invention, a readable and writable memory is disposed inside an antenna to store corresponding configuration data of the antenna, so that an external device can conveniently call the configuration data to configure the RCU and to remotely control the electrical down-tilt angle of the antenna. This reduces the human error rate, reduces the installation cost, improves the accuracy of project implementation, and facilitates maintenance.

0029Referring to <figref idref="f0004">FIG. 6</figref>, an embodiment of the present invention further provides an antenna electrical tilting method, including the following steps: <ul id="ul0003" list-style="none" compact="compact"><li>Step 710: Retrieve configuration data which corresponds to antenna information and is stored in a readable and writable memory inside an antenna according to the antenna information.</li><li>Step 720: Load the configuration data to an external remote control unit RCU.</li><li>Step 730: Drive a motor inside the antenna to move according to the configuration data, so as to drive a phase shifter inside the antenna to move, thereby adjusting an electrical down-tilt angle of the antenna.</li></ul>

0030It should be understood that the antenna information optionally includes one or more of all antenna models, antenna frequency bands, and antenna serial numbers, so that the RCU can obtain the configuration data of the corresponding antenna to be loaded to the RCU from the readable and writable memory according to the antenna models in the antenna information, or obtain the configuration data of the corresponding antenna to be loaded to the RCU according to the antenna frequency bands.

0031In the embodiment of the present invention, a readable and writable memory is disposed inside an antenna to store corresponding configuration data of the antenna, so that an external device can conveniently call the configuration data to configure the RCU and to remotely control the electrical down-tilt angle of the antenna. This reduces the human error rate, reduces the installation cost, improves the accuracy of project implementation, and facilitates maintenance.

0032Persons of ordinary skill in the art should understand that all or a part of the processes of the method according to the embodiments may be implemented by a computer program instructing relevant hardware. The program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. When the program is run, the processes of the method according to the embodiments are performed. The storage medium may be a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a read-only memory (Read-Only Memory, ROM), or a random access memory (Random Access Memory, RAM).

0033Although the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the present invention have been described in detail above through the exemplary embodiments, it should be understood that the above descriptions are merely exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention. All modifications, equivalent replacements, and improvements made without departing from the spirit and principle of the present invention shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

0034Further embodiments of the present invention are provided in the following. It should be noted that the numbering used in the following section does not necessarily need to comply with the numbering used in the previous sections.

0035Embodiment 1.An antenna apparatus, configured to be used in conjunction with an external remote control unit RCU, and comprising: a readable and writable memory, configured to store configuration data of an antenna and antenna information corresponding to the configuration data, wherein when the configuration data is loaded to the RCU, the RCU is enabled to drive a motor to move according to the configuration data, so as to adjust an electrical down-tilt angle of the antenna.

0036Embodiment 2.The antenna apparatus according to embodiment 1, wherein the antenna information comprises one or more of antenna frequency bands, antenna serial numbers, and antenna models.

0037Embodiment 3.The antenna apparatus according to embodiment 1, wherein the readable and writable memory is an electronic label RFID Tag.

0038Embodiment 4.The antenna apparatus according to embodiment 1, further comprising an external reading and writing device, wherein the external reading and writing device is configured to perform read and write operations on the readable and writable storage unit, read the antenna information, retrieve the configuration data of the antenna from the readable and writable storage unit according to the antenna information, and then load the configuration data to the RCU.

0039Embodiment 5.The antenna apparatus according to embodiment 4, wherein the external reading and writing device is built in the RCU.

0040Embodiment 6.The antenna apparatus according to embodiment 5, further comprising a visualization window unit connected with the RCU, wherein a query command is delivered through the visualization window unit to control the external reading and writing device to obtain the antenna information.

0041Embodiment 7. An antenna electrical tilting method, comprising: <ul id="ul0004" list-style="none" compact="compact"><li>retrieving configuration data which corresponds to antenna information and is stored in a readable and writable memory inside an antenna according to the antenna information;</li><li>loading the configuration data to an external remote control unit RCU; and</li><li>driving a motor inside the antenna to move according to the configuration data to adjust an electrical down-tilt angle of the antenna.</li></ul>

0042Embodiment 8.The method according to embodiment 7, wherein the antenna information comprises one or more of antenna frequency bands, antenna serial numbers, and antenna models.

0043Embodiment 9.An antenna system, comprising an antenna apparatus, wherein the antenna system further comprises an external remote control unit RCU used in conjunction with the antenna apparatus; <ul id="ul0005" list-style="none" compact="compact"><li>the antenna apparatus comprises a readable and writable memory and a motor; wherein</li><li>the readable and writable memory is configured to store configuration data of an antenna and antenna information corresponding to the configuration data, wherein when the configuration data is loaded to the RCU, the RCU drives the motor inside the antenna to move according to the configuration data to adjust an electrical down-tilt angle of the antenna.</li></ul>

0044Embodiment 10.The antenna system according to embodiment 9, wherein the antenna information comprises one or more of antenna frequency bands, antenna serial numbers, and antenna models.

0045Embodiment 11. The antenna system according to embodiment 9, wherein the readable and writable memory is an electronic label RFID Tag.

0046Embodiment 12.The antenna system according to embodiment 9, further comprising an external reading and writing device, wherein the external reading and writing device is configured to perform read and write operations on the readable and writable storage unit, read the antenna information, retrieve the configuration data of the antenna from the readable and writable storage unit according to the antenna information, and then load the configuration data to the RCU.

0047Embodiment 13.The antenna system according to embodiment 12, wherein the external reading and writing device is built in the RCU.

0048Embodiment 14.The antenna system according to embodiment 13, further comprising a visualization window unit connected with the RCU, wherein a query command is delivered through the visualization window unit to control the external reading and writing device to obtain the antenna information.