Gain control for multi-channel fixed wireless terminal

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawings in which like numerals reference like parts, FIG.
1 shows a wireless local loop digital cellular communications system 10.
As shown, terminal equipment units 12a-12d are coupled to a multi-line fixed wireless terminal (FWT) 14 at input ports 16a-16d.
The terminal equipment units 12a-12d may be telephones, fax machines, modems, or other customer provided equipment, or customer premise equipment (CPE).
The input ports 16a-16d are typically implemented with, for example, RJ-11 jacks or other jacks from the RJ family of jacks registered with the Federal Communications Commission, such as RJ-12 and RJ-45 jacks, or with other types of connectors, to connect, for example, a twisted-pair copper cable between the terminal equipment units 12a-12d and the fixed wireless terminal 14.
While the embodiment shown in FIG.
1 shows four input ports 16a-16d, the number of input ports, and therefore channels available through the FWT 14, may vary.
The multi-line FWT 14 is coupled to an antenna 18 for transmitting radio frequency signals 20 to a base station 22, and is typically mounted in a convenient location in a building or home so that it remains fixed in relation to the location of base station 22.
The radio frequency signals 20 ordinarily conform to an air interface standard, such as the industry standard IS-95 for code division multiple access (CDMA) cellular communications systems.
The base station 22 ultimately communicates user voice or data signals to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) 24 after it receives signals from the FWT 14 so that customers using the telephones 12a-12d may place calls to other telephones connected to the PSTN 24.
In digital cellular communications systems, such as the system 10, it is desirable that each subscriber unit, such as the telephones 12a-12d, transmits signals to the base station 22 at the minimum power level required to ensure adequate reception of the signals at the base station, while simultaneously enhancing call quality by minimizing signal interference, maximizing system call capacity, and improving the life of the batteries in the respective telephones 12a-12d