SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROCESSING A COMPOSITE SIGNAL

• US 20110103460A1
• Filed: 10/29/2009
• Published: 05/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cellnet Innovations, Inc., Landis+Gyr Inc. (Landis+Gyr Group AG)
• Original Assignee: Landis+Gyr Inc. (Landis+Gyr Group AG)
• Inventors: Bonicatto, Damian G.
• Granted Patent: US 8,306,105 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 375/238
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 7/10 Combined modulation, e.g. rate modulation and amplitude modulation

Abstract

An embodiment of a communication system can generate a composite signal that includes two or more different signals, where the signals represent different types of data. A data signal having one or more pulses that represent digital data of a first type is provided. A control signal that is a digital bit stream is provided. A composite signal is generated by multiplying a frequency of the data signal by a factor and modifying widths of pulses based on the bits of the control signal. The composite signal can be provided to a receiver device over a communication medium. The receiver device can determine the data signal and the control signal from the composite signal.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

recovering, by a receiver device, a composite signal propagating in a communication medium, the composite signal comprising at least two signals and the composite signal representing data of a first type and representing data of a second type;

decoding the composite signal to determine a control signal representing the data of the second type by;

identifying at least one pulse of the composite signal;

measuring a width of the at least one pulse; and

determining a bit of the control signal based on a size of the width of the at least one pulse;

dividing a frequency of the composite signal by two to determine a data signal representing the data of the first type;

outputting the control signal; and

outputting the data signal.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

multiplying, by a transmitter device, a frequency of the data signal by two, the data signal representing data of the first type and the data signal comprising the at least one pulse;

generating, by the transmitter device, the composite signal by modifying the at least one pulse using the control signal, the control signal representing data of the second type; and

transmitting the composite signal to the communication medium.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein modifying the at least one pulse using the control signal comprises:

identifying the at least one pulse; and

modifying the width of the at least one pulse an amount, the amount being determined based on the bit of the control signal.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

restoring, by the receiver device, the width of the at least one pulse of the data signal to a width corresponding to a pre-modified width.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein data of the first type comprises frequency shift keying (FSK) data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication medium is at least one of:

a fiber optic cable;

a wireline;

a coaxial cable;

or

an air medium.

7. A system comprising:

a transmitter device configured to generate and transmit a composite signal comprising at least two signals representing different types of data by;

multiplying a frequency of a data signal by a factor, the data signal representing data of a first type and the data signal comprising at least one pulse;

modifying the at least one pulse using a control signal to generate the composite signal, the control signal representing data of a second type; and

transmitting the composite signal to a communication medium;

a receiver device configured to determine the at least two signals representing different types of data by;

recovering the composite signal propagating in the communication medium;

decoding the composite signal to determine the control signal representing the data of the second type from the composite signal;

dividing a frequency of the composite signal by the factor to determine the data signal representing the data of the first type;

outputting the control signal; and

outputting the data signal.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the transmitter device is configured to modify the at least one pulse using the control signal by:

identifying a leading edge of the at least one pulse; and

modifying a width of the at least one pulse an amount, the amount being determined based on a bit of the control signal.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the receiver device is configured to decode the composite signal to determine the control signal representing the data of the second type from the composite signal by:

identifying the leading edge of the at least one pulse having a modified width;

measuring the width of the at least one pulse; and

determining the bit of the control signal based on a size of the width of the at least one pulse.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the receiver device is configured to restore the width of the at least one pulse of the data signal to a width corresponding to a pre-modified width.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the data signal comprises frequency shift keying (FSK) data,

wherein the control signal comprises a digital bit stream.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the factor is two.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein the communication medium is at least one of:

a fiber optic cable;

a wireline;

a coaxial cable;

or

an air medium.

14. The system of claim 7, wherein the transmitter device and the receiver device are disposed in a power distribution substation.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the power distribution substation comprises a substation processing unit and a transformer coupler unit,

wherein the transmitter device is disposed in the substation processing unit and the receiver device is disposed in the transformer coupler unit.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the transformer coupler unit comprises an amplifier, the amplifier being configured to amplify the data signal to a level for transmission onto a power distribution network, wherein the level of amplification is controllable by the control signal.

17. A method comprising:

multiplying, by a transmitter device, a frequency of a data signal by a factor, the data signal representing data of a first type and the data signal comprising at least one pulse;

generating, by the transmitter device, a composite signal by modifying the at least one pulse using a control signal, the control signal representing data of a second type, wherein the composite signal represents the data of the first type and the data of the second type; and

transmitting the composite signal to a communication medium.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

recovering the composite signal propagating in the communication medium;

decoding the composite signal to determine the control signal representing the data of the second type from the composite signal;

dividing a frequency of the composite signal by the factor to determine the data signal representing the data of the first type;

outputting the control signal; and

outputting the data signal.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the factor comprises a number that is the greater than the number one.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein modifying the at least one pulse using the control signal comprises:

identifying a leading edge of the at least one pulse; and

modifying a width of the at least one pulse an amount, the amount being determined based on a bit of the control signal.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein decoding the composite signal to determine the control signal representing the data of the second type from the composite signal comprises:

identifying the leading edge of the at least one pulse having a modified width;

measuring the width of the at least one pulse; and

determining the bit of the control signal based on a size of the width of the at least one pulse.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

restoring a width of the at least one pulse of the data signal to a width corresponding to a pre-modified width.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the data signal comprises frequency shift keying (FSK) data,

wherein the control signal comprises a digital bit stream.