Dual-mode radio receiver for receiving narrowband and wideband signals

• US 5,668,837 A
• Filed: 02/03/1995
• Issued: 09/16/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Unwired Planet LLC (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Original Assignee: Ericsson, Inc. (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Inventors: Dent, Paul W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin, Stephen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kim, Kevin
• Application Number:
  US08/383,036
• Time in Patent Office: 956 Days
• Field of Search: 375/316, 375/260, 375/267, 375/299, 375/349, 375/356, 375/347, 455/59, 455/131, 455/137, 455/138, 455/139, 455/145, 455/146, 455/339, 455/340, 455/307
• US Class Current: 375/316
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 5/24 in frequency-selective amplifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0003 Software-defined radio [SDR] systems, i.e. systems wherein components typically implemented in hardware, e.g. filters or modulators/demodulators, are implented using software, e.g. by involving an AD or DA conversion stage such that at least part of the signal processing is performed in the digital domain digital baseband systems H04L25/00; digital modulation/demodulation H04L27/00; CDMA H04B1/707; TDMA H04B7/2643; image transmission H04N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0007 wherein the AD/DA conversion occurs at radiofrequency or intermediate frequency stage
• 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 1/0057 using diplexing or multiplexing filters for selecting the desired band
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/1027 assessing signal quality or detecting noise/interference for the received signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/16 Circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/26 for superheterodyne receivers multiple frequency-changing H03D7/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/406 with more than one transmission mode, e.g. analog and digital modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/1054 by changing bandwidth
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/12 Frequency diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2646 for broadband transmission

Abstract

A radio receiver for a radio operable in a radio communication system utilizing either a wideband standard such as GSM or a narrowband standard such as IS-54. The radio receiver has a wideband mode for demodulating wideband signals and a narrowband mode for demodulating narrowband signals. The radio receiver uses a wideband filter apparatus having a wide filter bandwidth adapted to the wideband signals for filtering both the wideband and narrowband signals. When in the narrowband mode, a digitizer digitizes the filtered signals containing the narrowband signal and produces digital signals having amplitude and phase signals corresponding to the filtered signals. A digital signal processor is used to frequency shift the digital signals so as to shift the narrowband signals to the center frequency of the wideband filter apparatus. The frequency-shifted narrowband signals are then filtered to select the centered narrowband signals and the narrowband signals are then demodulated. The digital signal processor is adapted to frequency-shift a plurality of different narrowband signals at different radio channel frequencies and to demodulated the different narrowband signals to provide for diversity combination.

Claims

1. A radio receiver for receiving radio signals containing first narrowband signals at a first radio channel frequency and second narrowband signals at a second radio channel frequency, comprising:

a. a downconverter for downconverting the radio signals to generate downconverted signals;

b. wideband filter means for filtering the downconverted signals with a wide filter bandwidth to generate filtered signals, wherein the filtered signals have a first subband containing the first narrowband signals and a second subband containing the second narrowband signals;

c. a digitizer for digitizing the filtered signals to generate digital signals, wherein the digital signals represent the radio signals in polar form and include phase signals and amplitude signals,

d. first frequency-shifting means for shifting the digital signals so as to shift the first narrowband signals by adding a first phase slope to the phase signals to a predetermined center frequency and generate first frequency-shifted signals;

e. second frequency-shifting means for shifting the digital signals so as to shift the second narrowband signals by adding a second phase slope to the phase signals to the predetermined center frequency and generate second frequency-shifted signals,

f. narrowband filter means for filtering the frequency-shifted signals with a filter bandwidth adapted to the narrowband signals so as to extract the first and second narrowband signals; and

g. demodulator means for demodulating the extracted first and second narrowband signals and generating demodulated signals.

2. The radio receiver of claim 1, wherein the first and second narrowband signals have a common information content, and wherein the demodulator means jointly processes extracted first and second narrowband signals to extract a common information content and provide diversity combination.

3. The radio receiver of claim 1, wherein the downconverter includes a first local oscillator and a second local oscillator for downconverting the radio signals in stages, and wherein the wideband filter means includes at least one wideband filter disposed between the first and second oscillators and at least one wideband filter disposed after the second local oscillator.

4. The radio receiver of claim 1, wherein the first narrowband signal is located on one side of the predetermined center frequency and the second narrowband signal is located on an opposite side of the center frequency so that the digital signals are shifted in opposite directions by the first and second frequency-shifting means to position the first and second narrowband signals at the predetermined center frequency.

5. The radio receiver of claim 1, further including amplitude scaler means for normalizing the frequency-shifted signals.

6. The radio receiver of claim 5, wherein the amplitude scaler means normalizes the frequency-shifted signals by processing the amplitude signals.

7. The radio receiver of claim 1, further including a polar-to-Cartesian converter for converting the amplitude signals and phase signals of the frequency-shifted signals to real signals and imaginary signals representing the frequency-shifted signals, and wherein the narrowband filter means filters the frequency-shifted signals to extract the narrowband signals by processing the real and imaginary signals representing the frequency-shifted signals.

8. The radio receiver of claim 1, wherein the amplitude signals are related to the logarithm of the amplitudes of the instantaneous radio signals.

9. A radio receiver having a wideband mode for receiving radio signals containing wideband signals and a narrowband mode for receiving radio signals containing narrowband signals, comprising:

a. a downconverter for downconverting the radio signals to generate downconverted signals;

b. wideband filter means for filtering the downconverted signals with a wide filter bandwidth adapted to the wideband signals and generating filtered signals containing the wideband signals or narrowband signals;

c. a wideband demodulator for receiving the filtered signals containing wideband signals and demodulating the wideband signals contained in the filtered signals;

d. a digitizer for digitizing the filtered signals containing the narrowband signals and generating digital signals;

e. first frequency-shifting means for shifting the digital signals so as to shift first narrowband signals at a first radio channel frequency to a desired center frequency and generate first frequency-shifted signals;

f. narrowband filter means for filtering the first frequency-shifted signals with a filter bandwidth adapted to the first narrowband signals so as to extract the first narrowband signals; and

g. a narrowband demodulator for demodulating the extracted first narrowband signals to generate first demodulated signals.

10. The radio receiver of claim 9, wherein the digital signals represent the radio signals in polar form and include phase signals and amplitude signals, wherein the first frequency- shifting means shifts the digital signals by adding a first phase sequence to the phase signals.

11. The radio receiver of claim 10, further including a polar-to-Cartesian converter for converting the amplitude signals and phase signals of the frequency-shifted signals to real signals and imaginary signals representing the frequency-shifted signals, and wherein the narrowband filter means filters the frequency-shifted signals to extract the narrowband signals by processing the real and imaginary signals representing the frequency-shifted signals.

12. The radio receiver of claim 9, wherein the predetermined center frequency is located in a central subband of the wide filter bandwidth so that the first narrowband signals of the first frequency-shifted signals are centered in the wide filter bandwidth.

13. The radio receiver of claim 9, wherein the downconverter includes a first local oscillator and a second local oscillator for downconverting the radio signals in stages, and wherein the wideband filter means includes at least one wideband filter disposed between the first and second oscillators and at least one wideband filter disposed after the second local oscillator.

14. The radio receiver of claim 9, further including amplitude scaler means for normalizing the frequency-shifted signals.

15. The radio receiver of claim 10, further including an amplitude scaler means for normalizing the first frequency-shifted signals by processing the amplitude signals.

16. The radio receiver of claim 10, wherein the amplitude signals are related to the logarithm of the amplitudes of the instantaneous radio signals.

17. The radio receiver of claim 9, further including second frequency-shifting means for shifting the digital signals so as to shift second narrowband signals at a second radio channel frequency the predetermined center frequency and generate second frequency-shifted signals, and wherein the narrowband filter means filters the second frequency-shifted signals with a filter bandwidth adapted to the second narrowband signals so as to extract the second narrowband signals, and wherein the narrowband demodulator demodulates the extracted second narrowband signals and generates second demodulated signals.

18. The radio receiver of claim 17, wherein the first and second narrowband signals have a common information content, and wherein the narrowband demodulator jointly processes extracted first and second narrowband signals to extract a common information content and provide diversity combination.

19. The radio receiver of claim 17, wherein the digital signals represent the radio signals in polar form and include phase signals and amplitude signals, wherein the first frequency-shifting means shifts the digital signals by adding a first phase sequence to the phase signals, and wherein the second frequency-shifting means shifts the digital signals by adding a second phase sequence to the phase signals.

20. The radio receiver of claim 17, wherein the first narrowband signal is located on one side of the predetermined center frequency and the second narrowband signal is located on an opposite side of the predetermined center frequency so that the digital signals are shifted in opposite directions by the first and second frequency-shifting means to position the first and second narrowband signals in the central subband.

21. The radio receiver of claim 19, further including a polar-to-Cartesian converter for converting the amplitude signals and phase signals of the frequency-shifted signals to real signals and imaginary signals representing the frequency-shifted signals, and wherein the narrowband filter means filters the frequency-shifted signals to extract the narrowband signals by processing the real and imaginary signals representing the frequency-shifted signals.

22. The radio receiver of claim 19, wherein the amplitude signals are related to the logarithm of the amplitudes of the instantaneous radio signals.

23. The radio receiver of claim 17, wherein the predetermined center frequency is located in a central subband of the wide bandwidth filter so that the first and second narrowband signals of the frequency-shifted signals are centered in the wide filter bandwidth.

24. A method for receiving radio signals with a radio receiver where the radio signals contain first narrowband signals at a first radio channel frequency and second narrowband signals at a second radio channel frequency, comprising:

a. downconverting the radio signals to generate downconverted signals;

b. filtering the downconverted signals with a wide filter bandwidth to generate filtered signals, wherein the filtered signals have a first subband containing the first narrowband signals and a second subband containing the second narrowband signals;

c. digitizing the filtered signals to generate digital signals, wherein the digital signals represent the radio signals in polar form and include phase signals and amplitude signals;

d. frequency shifting the digital signals so as to shift the first narrowband signals by adding a first phase slope to the phase signals to a predetermined center frequency and generate first frequency-shifted signals;

e. frequency shifting the digital signals so as to shift the second narrowband signals by adding a second phase slope to the phase signals to the predetermined center frequency and generate second frequency-shifted signals,

f. filtering the frequency-shifted signals with a filter bandwidth adapted to the narrowband signals so as to extract the first and second narrowband signals; and

g. demodulating the extracted first and second narrowband signals to generate demodulated signals.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the first and second narrowband signals have a common information content, and wherein the step of demodulating includes the step of jointly processing the extracted first and second narrowband signals to extract a common information content and provide diversity combination.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the first subband of the wide bandwidth filter is located on one side of the predetermined center frequency and the second subband of the wide bandwidth filter is located on an opposite side of the predetermined center frequency, and wherein the step of shifting the digital signals includes shifting the digital signals in opposite directions to position the first and second narrowband signals at the predetermined center frequency.

27. The method of claim 24, further including the step of normalizing the frequency-shifted signals by processing the amplitude signals.

28. The method of claim 24, further including the steps of converting the amplitude signals and phase signals of the frequency-shifted signals to real signals and imaginary signals representing the frequency-shifted signals, and filtering the frequency-shifted signals to extract the narrowband signals by processing the real and imaginary signals representing the frequency-shifted signals.

29. The radio receiver of claim 24, wherein the amplitude signals are related to the logarithm of the amplitudes of the instantaneous radio signals.

30. A method for receiving radio signals with a radio receiver where the radio signals contain alternatively wideband signals or narrowband signals, comprising:

a. downconverting the radio signals to generate downconverted signals;

b. filtering the downconverted signals with a wide filter bandwidth adapted to the wideband signals to generate filtered signals alternatively containing the wideband signals or narrowband signals;

c. demodulating the filtered signals containing wideband signals and demodulating the wideband signals contained in the filtered signals;

d. digitizing the filtered signals containing the narrowband signals to generate digital signals;

e. frequency shifting the digital signals so as to shift first narrowband signals at a first radio channel frequency to a predetermined center frequency and generate first frequency-shifted signals;

f. filtering the first frequency-shifted signals with a filter bandwidth adapted to the first narrowband signals so as to extract the first narrowband signals; and

g. demodulating the extracted first narrowband signals to generate first demodulated signals.

31. A radio communication system for communicating with radios alternatively by wideband signals and narrowband signals, comprising:

a. a first narrowband transceiver for transmitting first narrowband signals;

b. a second narrowband transceiver for transmitting second narrowband signals;

c. a wideband transceiver for transmitting wideband signals; and

d. a radio including a radio receiver having a wideband mode for receiving radio signals containing wideband signals and a narrowband mode for receiving radio signals containing narrowband signals, the radio receiver including;

i) a downconverter for downconverting the radio signals to generate downconverted signals;

ii) wideband filter means for filtering the downconverted signals with a wide filter bandwidth adapted to the wideband signals and generating filtered signals containing the wideband signals or narrowband signals, wherein the filtered signals containing the narrowband signals have a first subband containing the first narrowband signals and a second subband containing the second narrowband signals;

iii) a wideband demodulator means for receiving the filtered signals containing wideband signals and demodulating the wideband signals contained in the filtered signals;

iv) a digitizer for digitizing the filtered signals containing the narrowband signals and generating digital signals;

v) first frequency-shifting means for shifting the digital signals so as to shift the first narrowband signals to a predetermined center frequency and generate first frequency-shifted signals;

vi) second frequency-shifting means for shifting the digital signals so as to shift the second narrowband signals to the predetermined center frequency and generate second frequency-shifted signals,

vii) narrowband filter means for filtering the frequency-shifted signals with a filter bandwidth adapted to the narrowband signals so as to extract the first and second narrowband signals; and

viii) a narrowband demodulator means for demodulating the extracted first and second narrowband signals and generating demodulated signals.

32. The radio receiver of claim 31, wherein the digital signals represent the radio signals in polar form and include phase signals and amplitude signals, wherein the first frequency-shifting means shifts the digital signals by adding a first phase slope to the phase signals.

33. The radio receiver of claim 32, further including a polar-to-Cartesian converter for converting the amplitude signals and phase signals of the frequency-shifted signals to real signals and imaginary signals representing the frequency-shifted signals, and wherein the narrowband filter means filters the frequency-shifted signals to extract the narrowband signals by processing the real and imaginary signals representing the frequency-shifted signals.

34. The radio receiver of claim 32, further includes an amplitude scaler means for normalizing the first frequency-shifted signals by processing the amplitude signals.

35. The radio receiver of claim 31, wherein the first and second narrowband signals have a common information content, and wherein the narrowband demodulator jointly processes extracted first and second narrowband signals to extract a common information content and provide diversity combination.

36. The radio communication system of claim 31, wherein the first and second narrowband transceivers are located in different satellites.

37. The radio communication system of claim 35, further including means for making a soft handover for a radio moving through a border zone between two cells, wherein the first and second narrowband transceivers transmit narrowband signals having the same information content to the radio receiver when the radio is in the handover zone and wherein one of the narrowband transceivers discontinues transmitting narrowband signals to the radio which has moved out of the border zone and reallocates the radio channel frequency of the narrowband signals no longer being transmitted for use by another radio.