ENHANCED SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IMPLEMENTING A BACK-UP CONTROL CHANNEL IN A CELLULAR TELECOMMUNICATION NETWORK

摘要

A local control mechanism for automatically parking an active combiner filter (44) and activating an alternate combiner filter in an auto-tune combiner (32) in a radio telecommunications network is resident entirely at a remote base station (20). The mechanism samples the radio frequency (RF) energy level on the active combiner filter (44) in an auto-tune combiner (32) and determines whether the measured RF energy level exceeds a predetermined RF energy threshold. The mechanism then determines the number of RF energy samples taken, compares this number to a trigger number, and parks the active combiner filter (44) and switches to an alternate combiner filter when the number of consecutive RF energy samples below the RF energy threshold exceeds the trigger number.