Energy detection receiver for UWB

• US 20060126592A1
• Filed: 12/15/2004
• Published: 06/15/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hassan, Amer A., Coberly, Jenelle R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,014,468 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/349
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/71637 Receiver aspects H04B1/7183 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/28 with simultaneous transmission of different frequencies each representing one code element

Abstract

The receiver portion of a UWB wireless device is altered by replacing analog-to-digital circuitry with a simple energy detection circuit. In embodiments of the invention, the coding methodology of a transmitter is altered to support the simplified receiver configuration. For example, instead of coding the data to be sent in the phase of the UWB signal, the data is encoded in a binary fashion in discrete frequency subbands of the UWB signal. Although this may reduce the usable bandwidth of the channel, it also decreases the complexity and power consumption of UWB devices. In another embodiment of the invention, a UWB device is able to select a transmission mode (BPSK or Energy Coding) based on its environment. Moreover, in a further embodiment of the invention, receiving devices may switch between coding modes based on the capabilities of a remote transmitter and/or a peer receiver.

Claims

1. A wireless device for transmitting information to a second wireless device via a wireless communication medium having a bandwidth, the device comprising:

a data source for providing data to be transmitted via the wireless medium to the second wireless device;

an encoder linked to the data source for receiving the data to be transmitted and for coding the data, wherein coding the data comprises energy coding the data via the presence or absence of energy in selected subbands of the bandwidth; and

an up converter for transmitting the coded data to the second wireless device via the wireless communication medium.

2. The wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the encoder further comprises an encoding portion for encoding data via phase encoding.

3. The wireless device according to claim 2, wherein the phase encoding comprises Binary Phase Shift Key coding.

4. The wireless device according to claim 2, wherein the device further comprises a connection manager for selecting a coding mode for the encoder to use.

5. The wireless device according to claim 4, wherein the coding mode is selected from the group consisting of (1) energy coding, (2) phase encoding, and (3) both energy coding and phase encoding.

6. The wireless device according to claim 4, wherein the coding mode is selected based on a decoding mechanism used by the second wireless device.

7. The wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the communication medium is an Ultra Wide Bandwidth protocol channel.

8. The wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the communication medium is a WiMax protocol channel.

9. The wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the wireless communication medium is part of a metropolitan area network.

10. The wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the wireless communication medium is part of a network selected from the group consisting of wireless desktop device cluster, wireless consumer electronics network, and wireless home entertainment network.

11. A wireless device for receiving information from a second wireless device via a wireless communication medium having a bandwidth, the device comprising:

a down converter for receiving coded data from the second wireless device via the wireless communication medium; and

a decoder linked to the down converter for receiving the coded data and for decoding the coded data, wherein decoding the coded data comprises energy decoding the data via detecting the presence or absence of energy in selected subbands of the bandwidth.

12. The wireless device according to claim 11, wherein the decoder further comprises a decoding portion for decoding data via phase decoding.

13. The wireless device according to claim 12, wherein the phase decoding comprises Binary Phase Shift Key decoding.

14. The wireless device according to claim 12, wherein the device is adapted to select a decoding technique for use based on a coding technique used by the second wireless device.

15. The wireless device according to claim 12, wherein the device is adapted to select a decoding technique for use based on a coding technique used by a third wireless device linked to the communications medium.

16. The wireless device according to claim 11, wherein the communication medium is an Ultra Wide Bandwidth protocol channel.

17. The wireless device according to claim 11, wherein the communication medium is a WiMax protocol channel.

18. The wireless device according to claim 11, wherein the wireless communication medium is part of a metropolitan area network.

19. The wireless device according to claim 11, wherein the wireless communication medium is part of a network selected from the group consisting of a wireless desktop device cluster, a wireless consumer electronics network, and a wireless home entertainment network.

20. A method for selecting an encoding method for transmission of data via a wireless network by a first wireless device to a group of one or more other wireless devices, the wireless network comprising a wireless medium having a bandwidth, the method comprising:

connecting from the first wireless device to the one or more other wireless devices, and receiving at the first wireless device from each of the one or more other wireless devices an indication of a respective receiver decoding mode;

determining at the first wireless device whether the group of one or more other wireless devices comprise a plurality of devices;

setting the encoding mode of the first wireless device to the coding mode of the single other wireless device if the group of one or more other wireless devices comprises a single device; and

determining whether the respective receiver decoding modes of the group of one or more other wireless devices are identical if it is determined that the group of one or more other wireless devices comprises a plurality of devices, and if the respective receiver decoding modes are identical then setting the encoding mode of the first wireless device to the coding mode of the group of one or more other wireless devices, and other wise setting the encoding mode of the first wireless device to employ multiple encoding types.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the encoding modes available to the first wireless device for selection comprise phase encoding and energy encoding.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein energy encoding comprises encoding data by placing energy in selected subbands of the bandwidth of the wireless medium.

20-1. A computer-readable medium having thereon computer-executable instructions for performing a method of selecting an encoding method for transmission of data via a wireless network by a first wireless device to a group of one or more other wireless devices, the wireless network comprising a wireless medium having a bandwidth, the computer-executable instructions comprising instructions for:

connecting from the first wireless device to the one or more other wireless devices, and receiving at the first wireless device from each of the one or more other wireless devices an indication of a respective receiver decoding mode;

determining at the first wireless device whether the group of one or more other wireless devices comprise a plurality of devices;

setting the encoding mode of the first wireless device to the coding mode of the single other wireless device if the group of one or more other wireless devices comprises a single device; and

determining whether the respective receiver decoding modes of the group of one or more other wireless devices are identical if it is determined that the group of one or more other wireless devices comprises a plurality of devices, and if the respective receiver decoding modes are identical then setting the encoding mode of the first wireless device to the coding mode of the group of one or more other wireless devices, and other wise setting the encoding mode of the first wireless device to employ multiple encoding types.