Method and system for interference detection

• US 20050266808A1
• Filed: 05/26/2004
• Published: 12/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Reunamaki, Jukka, Palin, Arto
• Granted Patent: US 7,643,811 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/101
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/005 adapting radio receivers, transmitters andtransceivers for operation on two or more bands, i.e. frequency ranges
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/1027 assessing signal quality or detecting noise/interference for the received signal

Abstract

A wireless communications device includes a first receiver and a second receiver. The first receiver is configured to receive a first wireless signal (such as a Bluetooth or WLAN signal), while the second receiver is configured to receive a second wireless signal (such as a UWB signal). In addition, the second receiver is configured to determine spectral characteristics of the first wireless signal. Based on these determined spectral characteristics, an interference detection module may identify interference in the first wireless signal.

Claims

1. A wireless communications device, comprising:

a first receiver configured to receive a first wireless signal;

a second receiver configured to receive a second wireless signal, the second receiver further configured to determine spectral characteristics of the first wireless signal; and

an interference detection module configured to identify interference based on the determined spectral characteristics.

2. The wireless communications device of claim 1, further comprising:

a controller configured to direct the second receiver to determine the spectral characteristics of the first wireless signal.

3. The wireless communications device of claim 2, wherein the controller is further configured to pass one or more baseband signals from the first receiver to the second receiver, wherein the one or more baseband signals are derived from the first wireless signal.

4. The wireless communications device of claim 3, wherein the one or more baseband signals include an in-phase (I) signal and a quadrature (Q) signal.

5. The wireless communications device of claim 3, wherein the second receiver includes a fast Fourier transform (FFT) module, the FFT module configured to demodulate the second signal and to determine the spectral characteristics of the first wireless signal.

6. The wireless communications device of claim 1, wherein the first signal is a Bluetooth signal.

7. The wireless communications device of claim 1, wherein the first signal is a wireless local area network (WLAN) signal.

8. The wireless communications device of claim 1, wherein the second signal is an ultra wideband (UVB) signal.

9. The wireless communications device of claim 8, wherein the UWB signal is an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signal.

10. The wireless communications device of claim 1, wherein the first receiver is coupled to the second receiver.

11. The wireless communications device of claim 1, wherein the first receiver is included in a Bluetooth radio.

12. The wireless communications device of claim 1, wherein the first receiver is included in a wireless local area network (WLAN) radio.

13. The wireless communications device of claim 1, wherein the second receiver is included in an ultra wideband (UWB) radio.

14. A method, comprising:

(a) receiving a first wireless signal at a first receiver;

(b) generating a spectral energy measurement of the first wireless signal at a second receiver; and

(c) based on the spectral energy measurement, detecting interference in the first wireless signal.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein step (b) comprises calculating a fast Fourier transform (FFT) on one or more baseband signals based on the first wireless signal.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the one or more baseband signals include an in-phase (I) signal and a quadrature (Q) signal.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the first signal is a Bluetooth signal.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the first signal is a wireless local area network (WLAN) signal.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the second signal is a ultra wideband (UWB) signal.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the UWB signal is an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signal.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein step (c) comprises identifying one or more frequency channels having interference, the one or more frequency channels available for reception by the first receiver.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising avoiding use of the one or more identified frequency channels by the first receiver.

23. A wireless communications device, comprising:

a first receiver; and

a second receiver coupled to the first receiver;

wherein the first and second receivers are configured to operate in collaboration for the detection of interference in a wireless communications bandwidth associated with the first receiver.

24. The wireless communications device of claim 23, further comprising:

a controller configured to initiate interference detection by the first and second receivers.

25. The wireless communications device of claim 24, wherein the second receiver includes one or more switches, each switch having a first setting for accepting a signal for demodulation, and a second setting for accepting a signal from the first receiver for interference detection;

wherein the controller is configured to set each of the one or more switches.

26. The wireless communications device of claim 23, wherein the second receiver is configured to generate a spectral energy measurement of a signal received from the first receiver.

27. The wireless communications device of claim 26, wherein the second receiver includes a fast Fourier transform (FFT) module, wherein the FFT module generates the spectral energy measurement.

28. The wireless communications device of claim 26, further comprising an interference detection module configured to:

receive the spectral energy measurement from the second receiver;

based on the spectral energy measurement, detect the presence of any interference in a wireless signal received by the first receiver; and

provide an indication of any identified interference to a radio associated with the first receiver.

29. The wireless communications device of claim 23, wherein the second receiver is configured to receive ultra wideband (UWB) signals.

30. The wireless communications device of claim 29, wherein the UWB signals are orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signals.

31. The wireless communications device of claim 23, wherein the first receiver is configured to receive Bluetooth signals.

32. The wireless communications device of claim 23, wherein the first receiver is configured to receive wireless local area network (WLAN) signals.

33. A wireless communications device, comprising:

a first receiver configured to receive a first wireless signal;

a second receiver configured to receive a second wireless signal, the second receiver further configured to determine spectral characteristics of the first wireless signal from one or more additional signals, the one or more additional signals derived from the first wireless signal;

a communications interface between the first and second receivers, the communications interface configured to send the one or more additional signals from the first receiver to the second receiver; and

an interference detection module configured to identify interference based on the determined spectral characteristics.

34. The wireless communications device of claim 33, wherein the second receiver includes one or more switches, each switch having a first setting for accepting a signal based on the second signal for demodulation, and a second setting for accepting one of the additional signals for interference detection.

35. The wireless communications device of claim 34, further comprising a controller configured to set each of the one or more switches.