Programmable integrated DiSEqC transceiver
First Claim
1. An integrated circuit, comprising:
- a master device functional block that includes a transmitter functional block that is operable to generate a PWK (Pulse Width Key) command signal comprising a plurality of messages;
a voltage regulator device functional block, communicatively coupled to the master device functional block, that is operable to regulate a voltage level of the PWK command signal; and
wherein the master device functional block is operable to program at least one of an amplitude of the PWK command signal, a frequency of the PWK command signal, a duty cycle of the PWK command signal, a message length of a message within the plurality of messages, a time between messages of the plurality of messages, and a DC (Direct Current) offset level of the PWK command signal.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Programmable integrated Digital Satellite Equipment Control (DiSEqC) transceiver. The DiSEqC functionality is integrated onto a semiconductor device. Rather than perform the DiSEqC protocol in software, the DiSEqC protocol is implemented in hardware thereby providing more reliable demodulation and improved robustness. The device'"'"'s functionality may employ much more reliable communication schemes that are enabled by the hardware/integrated approach of implementing the DiSEqC protocol. The integrated approach allows extensive programmability of the various operational parameters thereby greatly improving the ease of future backward compatibility with legacy devices; devices employing this integrated DiSEqC functionality may be easily updated to conform to future enhancements of the DiSEqC protocol. Some of the now-improved features enabled by the integrated/monolithic approach of DiSEqC include programmable tone amplitude, programmable PWK duty cycle, programmable length of messages, programmable time between messages (before and after), programmable voltage thresholds, tone transmit amplitude detection, improved voltage regulator feedback.
29 Citations
36 Claims
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1. An integrated circuit, comprising:
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a master device functional block that includes a transmitter functional block that is operable to generate a PWK (Pulse Width Key) command signal comprising a plurality of messages;
a voltage regulator device functional block, communicatively coupled to the master device functional block, that is operable to regulate a voltage level of the PWK command signal; and
wherein the master device functional block is operable to program at least one of an amplitude of the PWK command signal, a frequency of the PWK command signal, a duty cycle of the PWK command signal, a message length of a message within the plurality of messages, a time between messages of the plurality of messages, and a DC (Direct Current) offset level of the PWK command signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. An integrated circuit, comprising:
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a master device functional block that includes a transmitter functional block that is operable to generate a PWK (Pulse Width Key) command signal comprising a plurality of messages;
a voltage regulator device functional block, communicatively coupled to the master device functional block, that is operable to regulate a voltage level of the PWK command signal;
wherein the voltage regulator device functional block is operable to communicatively couple the PWK command signal via a bus to at least one additional integrated circuit that includes a slave device functional block;
wherein the master device functional block also includes a receiver functional block that is operable to receive a signal from the at least one additional integrated circuit that includes the slave device functional block; and
wherein the master device functional block is operable to program at least one of an amplitude of the PWK command signal, a frequency of the PWK command signal, a duty cycle of the PWK command signal, a message length of a message within the plurality of messages, a time between messages of the plurality of messages, a transmit enable feature to eliminate bus glitches on the bus, and a DC (Direct Current) offset level of the PWK command signal. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A satellite communications receiver decoder integrated circuit, the integrated circuit comprising:
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an integrated DiSEqC (Digital Satellite Equipment Control) master device that is operable to generate a PWK (Pulse Width Key) command signal that includes a plurality of DiSEqC messages;
a DiSEqC voltage regulator device, communicatively coupled to the integrated DiSEqC master device, that is operable to regulate a voltage level of the PWK command signal;
wherein the DiSEqC voltage regulator device is operable to communicatively couple the PWK command signal to a DiSEqC slave device via a DiSEqC bus; and
wherein the integrated DiSEqC master device is operable to program at least one of an amplitude of the PWK command signal, a frequency of the PWK command signal, a duty cycle of the PWK command signal, a message length of a DiSEqC message within the plurality of DiSEqC messages, a time between DiSEqC messages of the plurality of DiSEqC messages, a transmit enable feature to eliminate bus glitches on the DiSEqC bus, and a DC (Direct Current) offset level of the PWK command signal. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A satellite communications receiver decoder integrated circuit, the integrated circuit comprising:
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an integrated DiSEqC (Digital Satellite Equipment Control) master device that is operable to generate a PWK (Pulse Width Key) command signal that includes a plurality of DiSEqC messages, the integrated DiSEqC master device comprising;
a transmitter functional block, comprising;
a DDFS (Direct Digital Frequency Synthesizer) that generates a digital voltage waveform for use in PWK (Pulse Width Key) signaling;
a DC (Direct Current) control functional block that is operable to add a DC voltage offset to the digital voltage waveform;
a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) that is operable to convert the digital voltage waveform to an analog voltage waveform;
an on-chip amplifier that is operable to increase a magnitude of the analog voltage waveform thereby generating the PWK command signal;
a receiver functional block that is operable to program a detection range for use by the DiSEqC master device when performing envelope detection;
a finite state machine controller that governs operation of the transmitter functional block using a predetermined number of operational states;
a DiSEqC voltage regulator device, communicatively coupled to the integrated DiSEqC master device, that is operable to regulate a voltage level of the PWK command signal;
wherein the DiSEqC voltage regulator device is operable to communicatively couple the PWK command signal to a DiSEqC slave device via a DiSEqC bus;
wherein voltage control feedback, representative of the PWK command signal, is provided back to at least one of the integrated DiSEqC master device and the DiSEqC voltage regulator device; and
wherein the integrated DiSEqC master device is operable to program at least one of an amplitude of the PWK command signal, a frequency of the PWK command signal, a duty cycle of the PWK command signal, a message length of a DiSEqC message within the plurality of DiSEqC messages, a time between DiSEqC messages of the plurality of DiSEqC messages, a transmit enable feature to eliminate bus glitches on the DiSEqC bus, and a DC offset level of the PWK command signal. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. An integrated DiSEqC (Digital Satellite Equipment Control) master device that is operable to generate a PWK (Pulse Width Key) command signal that includes a plurality of DiSEqC messages, the integrated DiSEqC master device comprising:
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a transmitter functional block, comprising;
a DDFS (Direct Digital Frequency Synthesizer) that generates a digital voltage waveform for use in PWK signaling;
a DC (Direct Current) control functional block that is operable to add a DC voltage offset to the digital voltage waveform;
a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) that is operable to convert the digital voltage waveform to an analog voltage waveform;
an on-chip amplifier that is operable to increase a magnitude of the analog voltage waveform thereby generating the PWK command signal;
a finite state machine controller that governs operation of the transmitter functional block using a predetermined number of operational states; and
wherein the integrated DiSEqC master device is implemented as a functional block within a satellite communications receiver decoder integrated circuit. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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Specification