Universal modem for digital video, audio and data communications
First Claim
1. A universal modem to accommodate different modulation formats for use in the modulation and demodulation of a signal, comprising:
- a modulator and demodulator having software-configurable logic means for providing modulation and demodulation of a signal, said software configurable logic means including functional hardware blocks, each performing a predetermined function, and means for selectively interconnecting said hardware blocks;
means for generating, as an output, configuration instructions for said software-configurable logic means; and
,means for coupling said output to said software configurable logic means to configure said modem for the modulation format specified by said configuration instructions by interconnecting said hardware blocks to correspond to said instructions.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A universal modem has a software-configurable modulator/demodulator which commodates different modulation formats such as those associated with terrestrial, cable, phone line, satellite and wireless communications to be transmitted and received through a single device in which the modem has reconfigurable logic to accommodate the format of the signals being received or transmitted. Note that the modulator or demodulator can be used separately or the two units can be combined and used for transceivers, with either the same software configuring both the modulator and demodulator, or with different software used for the two units. In the receive mode, the universal modem detects the modulation format of the incoming signal and reconfigures the logic of its software-configurable demodulator to output demodulated digital data for further processing. In the transmit mode, information to be transmitted is provided with the appropriate modulation format by setting a software-configurable modulator in the universal modem to the particular format. In one embodiment, in the receive mode the incoming signal is A-D converted, with a host processor utilized to detect the type of modulation associated with the incoming signal and through a configuration controller configures a random access memory which is coupled to the software-configurable demodulator. In advanced television applications, the demodulated signal is passed through an equalizer, a Trellis Decoder and Reed-Solomon Decoder to provide an appropriate filtered and level-adjusted digital signal that is coupled to the next processing stage.
-
Citations
18 Claims
-
1. A universal modem to accommodate different modulation formats for use in the modulation and demodulation of a signal, comprising:
-
a modulator and demodulator having software-configurable logic means for providing modulation and demodulation of a signal, said software configurable logic means including functional hardware blocks, each performing a predetermined function, and means for selectively interconnecting said hardware blocks; means for generating, as an output, configuration instructions for said software-configurable logic means; and
,means for coupling said output to said software configurable logic means to configure said modem for the modulation format specified by said configuration instructions by interconnecting said hardware blocks to correspond to said instructions.
-
-
2. A universal modem to accommodate different modulation formats for use in the modulation and demodulation of a signal comprising:
-
a modulator and demodulator, said demodulator having software-configurable logic means for providing demodulation of a signal having a predetermined modulation format, said software configurable logic means including functional hardware blocks, each performing a predetermined function, and means for selectively interconnecting said hardware blocks; means for ascertaining the modulation type of said signal and for generating, as an output, configuration instructions for said software-configurable logic means; and means for coupling said output to said software configurable logic means, thereby to configure said demodulator for said modulation format by interconnecting said hardware blocks to correspond to said instructions. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. Apparatus to accommodate different modulation formats for use in the demodulation of a signal, comprising;
-
a demodulator having software-configurable logic means for providing demodulation of a signal having a predetermined modulation format, said software configurable logic means including functional hardware blocks, each performing a predetermined function, and means for selectively interconnecting said hardware blocks; means for ascertaining the modulation format of said signal and for generating, as an output, configuration instructions for said software-configurable logic means; and
,means for coupling said output to said software configurable logic means, thereby to configure said demodulator for said modulation format by interconnecting said hardware blocks to correspond to said instructions. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9)
-
-
10. Apparatus to accommodate different modulation formats for use in the modulation of a signal, comprising:
-
a modulator having software-configurable logic means for providing a modulation format for said signal based on the configuration of said logic means, said software configurable logic means including functional hardware blocks, each performing a predetermined function, and means for selectively interconnecting said hardware blocks; means for setting the modulation format for said signal by generating as an output configuration instructions for said software-configurable logic means; and
,means for coupling said output to said software configurable logic means, thereby to configure said modulator for the modulation format set by interconnecting said hardware blocks to correspond to said instructions. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
-
-
13. In a receiving device adapted to receive signals of different modulation formats, a demodulator having a software-configurable logic unit, said software configurable logic unit including functional hardware blocks, each performing a predetermined function, and means for selectively interconnecting said hardware blocks, said demodulator being coupled to the output of said receiver;
- and a computer for configuring said software-configurable logic unit with configuration instructions such that said demodulator is set to demodulate a signal having a predetermined modulation format by interconnecting said hardware blocks to correspond to said instructions.
- View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
-
17. In a receiving device adapted to receive signals of different modulation formats, a demodulator having a software-configurable logic unit, said demodulator being coupled to the output of said receiver;
- and a computer for configuring said software-configurable logic unit such that said demodulator is set to demodulate a signal having a predetermined modulation format, said demodulator initially demodulating all expected modulation types and further including an error signal generator coupled to the output of said demodulator for generating an error signal, a detector for detecting for which modulation format said error signal is at a minimum after said demodulator demodulates all expected modulation formats and means within said computer for setting said predetermined modulation type to that modulation type having said minimum error signal.
-
18. Apparatus to accommodate different modulation formats for use in the demodulation of a signal received on an input, comprising:
-
a control signal; a demodulator having software configurable logic including functional hardware blocks, each performing a predetermined function, and selective interconnection of said hardware blocks, said demodulator employing different demodulator formats in terms of the interconnection of said hardware blocks, said demodulator coupled to said input and providing demodulation of said signal having a predetermined format based on said control signal with said control signal specifying said interconnection; a detector coupled to said input and generating as an output different instructions for different demodulation formats based on the detected demodulation format; and
,a memory coupled between said demodulator and said detector for storing configuration data, said memory supplying said configuration data to said demodulator as said control signal to activate one of said different demodulation formats.
-
Specification