Method And System For Inter-PCB Communication Utilizing A Spatial Multi-Link Repeater

• US 20090279593A1
• Filed: 05/07/2008
• Published: 11/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rofougaran, Maryam, Rofougaran, Ahmadreza
• Granted Patent: US 8,295,333 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 375/211
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15542 Selecting at relay station its transmit and receive resources selection of wireless resources by user or terminal H04W72/02; arrangements affording multiple use of the transmission path by two-dimensional division of the resources H04L5/0003, or by allocating sub-channels H04L5/003
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/14 Structural association of two or more printed circuits providing electric connection to or between printed circuits H05K1/11, H01R12/00
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10098 Components for radio transmission, e.g. radio frequency identification [RFID] tag, printed or non-printed antennas

Abstract

Aspects of a method and system for inter-PCB communication utilizing a spatial multi-link repeater are provided. In this regard, a signal may be transmitted between printed circuit boards via one or more repeaters, wherein the repeaters may frequency shift received signals to generate repeated signals. Each of the repeated signals may be generated by quadrature down-converting said received signal by mixing the received signal with a first LO signal pair, up-converting the down-converted signal by mixing it with a second LO signal pair, and adding or subtracting an in-phase portion and a quadrature-phase portion of the up-converted signal. Each repeated signal may comprise one or more signal components and a phase and/or amplitude of each of the components may be controlled to control a directivity of the repeated signals. The repeater may reside on one of the plurality of printed circuit boards.

Claims

1. A method for signal processing, the method comprising:

in a communication system comprising a plurality of printed circuit boards, transmitting a first signal from a first of said plurality of printed circuit boards to a second of said plurality of printed circuit boards via one or more repeaters, wherein one or more repeated signals transmitted by each of said one or more repeaters is frequency shifted with respect to said first signal.

2. The method according to claim 1, comprising quadrature down-converting said first signal by mixing said received signal with a first of a plurality of phase-quadrature local oscillator signal pairs;

3. The method according to claim 2, comprising up-converting said down-converted signal by mixing said down-converted signal with a second pair of said plurality of phase-quadrature local oscillator signal pairs.

4. The method according to claim 3, comprising adding or subtracting an in-phase portion of said up-converted signal with a quadrature-phase portion of said up-converted signal.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein each of said one or more repeated signals comprises one or more signal components and a phase and/or amplitude of each of said signal components is adjusted to control a directivity of each of said plurality of repeated signals.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said repeater resides on one of said plurality of second printed circuit boards.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein said one of said plurality of second printed circuit boards comprises logic, circuitry, and/or code for extracting and/or processing information from said received signal.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein said repeater receives said first signal and/or transmits said one or more repeated signals via one or more antennas fabricated in and/or on a printed circuit board.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein each of said one or more antennas is an array of microstrip patches.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein a first portion of said plurality of second printed circuit boards receive signals on a different frequency than a remaining portion of said plurality of second printed circuit boards.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein a first portion of said plurality of second printed circuit boards is in a different physical location than a remaining portion of said plurality of second printed circuit boards.

12. The method according to claim 1, comprising determining, for one or more of said one or more repeated signals, an amount by which to shift said first signal based on a receive frequency of one or more of said plurality of second printed circuit boards.

13. The method according to claim 12, comprising determining a frequency of one or more of said plurality of phase-quadrature local oscillator signal pairs based on said determined amount by which to shift said first signal.

23. The system according to claim 1, wherein a first portion of said plurality of second printed circuit boards receive signals on a different frequency than a remaining portion of said plurality of second printed circuit boards.

24. The system according to claim 1, wherein a first portion of said plurality of second printed circuit boards is in a different physical location than a remaining portion of said plurality of second printed circuit boards.

25. The system according to claim 1, wherein said one or more circuits enable determination of, for one or more of said one or more repeated signals, an amount by which to shift said first signal based on a receive frequency of one or more of said plurality of second printed circuit boards.

26. The system according to claim 12, wherein said one or more circuits that enable determination of a frequency of one or more of said plurality of phase-quadrature local oscillator signal pairs based on said determined amount by which to shift said first signal.

14. A system for signal processing, the system comprising:

one or more circuits on one or more of a plurality of printed circuit boards, said one or more circuits enable transmission of a first signal from a first of said plurality of printed circuit boards to a second of said plurality of printed circuit boards via one or more repeaters, wherein one or more repeated signals transmitted by each of said one or more repeaters is frequency shifted with respect to said first signal.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein said one or more circuits enable quadrature down-conversion of said first signal by mixing said received signal with a first of a plurality of phase-quadrature local oscillator signal pairs;

16. The system according to claim 15, wherein said one or more circuits enable up-conversion of said down-converted signal by mixing said down-converted signal with a second pair of said plurality of phase-quadrature local oscillator signal pairs.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein said one or more circuits enable addition or subtraction of an in-phase portion of said up-converted signal with a quadrature-phase portion of said up-converted signal.

18. The system according to claim 14, wherein each of said one or more repeated signals comprises one or more signal components and a phase and/or amplitude of each of said signal components is adjusted to control a directivity of each of said plurality of repeated signals.

19. The system according to claim 14, wherein said repeater resides on one of said plurality of second printed circuit boards.

20. The system according to claim 19, wherein said one of said plurality of second printed circuit boards comprises logic, circuitry, and/or code for extracting and/or processing information from said received signal.

21. The system according to claim 14, wherein said repeater receives said first signal and/or transmits said one or more repeated signals via one or more antennas fabricated in and/or on a printed circuit board.

22. The system according to claim 21, wherein each of said one or more antennas is an array of microstrip patches.