In transmission systems, interference of a signal may be caused by weather conditions and/or other factors. This interference may be of a short duration (e.g., several minutes) or may be of a longer duration (e.g., hours, days or longer), depending on the factors causing the interference. Further, some interference/signal loss may occur instantaneously, whereas other interference/signal loss may increase over a period of time. For example, in a satellite television broadcast system, rain may cause temporary outages in the reception of a signal. The strength of the signal may degrade over a period of time as a storm approaches the location of the receiving device. Eventually, the degradation of the signal may become great enough such that the satellite receiver is unable to continue receiving the signal. This may be contrasted with the situation in which the signal is lost by the satellite receiver instantaneously, such as when a physical object comes within the line of sight of the antenna.
Signal loss in a transmission system often leads to users calling a technical support hotline in order to report and/or seek a remedy for the signal loss. If the signal loss is caused by rain fade or other weather conditions, then the problem will typically work itself out once the storm moves on. This may occur while the user is on the phone with the technical support hotline, leading to an unnecessary call by the user. Thus, it would be desirable for a receiving device to be able to differentiate between various types of signal loss, allowing the user to be more adequately informed regarding the source of the problem.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds