Digital front-end for wireless communication system
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- receiving observations of a wireless signal via multiple antennas;
measuring power levels of the observations by averaging a number of absolute squared samples of each of the observations;
identifying a largest power level among the measured power levels;
selecting an amplifier gain based on the largest measured power level; and
applying the amplifier gain to each of the observations.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A digital front-end for a wireless communication system incorporates gain control, signal detection, frame synchronization and carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimation and correction features configured for use with multiple receive antennas. The digital front-end may be applied to a wireless communication system in which transmitted signals carry a repeated signal pattern, such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. An example of a repeated signal pattern is the preamble of a signal transmitted according to the IEEE 802.11a wireless local area network (WLAN) standard. The signal detection, frame synchronization, and CFO estimation techniques make use of signals received from multiple antenna paths to provide enhanced performance. The gain control feature may be configured to adjust the gain in steps. The frame synchronization technique may operate as a function of gain control, handling the input signal differently before and after gain adjustment.
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Citations
92 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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receiving observations of a wireless signal via multiple antennas; measuring power levels of the observations by averaging a number of absolute squared samples of each of the observations; identifying a largest power level among the measured power levels; selecting an amplifier gain based on the largest measured power level; and applying the amplifier gain to each of the observations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method comprising:
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receiving observations of a wireless signal via multiple antennas; measuring power levels of the observations; generating a correlation of the observations; indicating a signal detection based on the correlation and a delayed version of the measured power levels; identifying a largest power level among the measured power levels; selecting an amplifier gain based on the largest measured power level; and applying the amplifier gain to each of the observations. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A method comprising:
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receiving observations of a wireless signal via multiple antennas; calculating an absolute squared value of an inner product between a unit vector of observation samples from the antennas and a time delayed unit vector of observation samples from the antennas; identifying a largest absolute squared inner product value among the calculated absolute squared inner product values; measuring power levels of the observations; identifying a largest power level among the measured power levels; selecting an amplifier gain based on the largest measured power level; and applying the amplifier gain to each of the observations. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A method comprising:
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receiving observations of a wireless signal via multiple antennas; generating a correlation of the observations for each of the antennas; averaging the correlations over all of the antennas; estimating a carrier frequency offset based on the angle of the averaged correlations; measuring power levels of the observations; identifying a largest power level among the measured power levels; selecting an amplifier gain based on the largest measured power level; and applying the amplifier gain to each of the observations. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A wireless receiver comprising:
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multiple antennas that receive observations of a wireless signal; a gain control unit that measures power levels of the observations by averaging a number of absolute squared samples of each of the observations, identifies a largest power level among the measured power levels, and selects an amplifier gain based on the largest measured power level; and an amplifier that applies the amplifier gain to each of the observations. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55)
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56. A receiver comprising:
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multiple antennas that receive observations of a wireless signal; a gain control unit that measures power levels of the observations, identifies a largest power level among the measured power levels, and selects an amplifier gain based on the largest measured power level; a signal detection unit that generates a correlation of the observations, and indicates a signal detection based on the correlation and a delayed version of the measured power level; and an amplifier that applies the amplifier gain to each of the observations. - View Dependent Claims (57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68)
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69. A receiver comprising:
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multiple antennas that receive observations of a wireless signal; a frame synchronization unit that calculates an absolute squared value of an inner product between a unit vector of observation samples from the antennas and a time delayed unit vector of observation samples from the antennas, and identifies a largest absolute squared inner product value among the calculated absolute squared inner product values; a gain control unit that measures power levels of the observations, identifies a largest power level among the measured power levels, and selects an amplifier gain based on the largest measured power level; and an amplifier that applies the amplifier gain to each of the observations. - View Dependent Claims (70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77)
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78. A receiver comprising:
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multiple antennas that receive observations of a wireless signal; a carrier frequency offset estimation unit that generates a correlation of the observations for each of the antennas, averages the correlations over all of the antennas, and estimates a carrier frequency offset based on the angle of the averaged correlations; a gain control unit that measures power levels of the observations, identifies a largest power level among the measured power levels, and selects an amplifier gain based on the largest measured power level; and an amplifier that applies the amplifier gain to each of the observations. - View Dependent Claims (79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84)
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85. A wireless receiver comprising:
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multiple antennas that receive observations of a wireless signal; a gain control unit that measures power levels of the observations, identifies a largest power level among the measured power levels, selects an amplifier gain based on the largest measured power level, and adjusts the amplifier gain to a fixed value so that the largest power level does not exceed a threshold; an amplifier that applies the adjusted amplifier gain to each of the observations; and a frame synchronization unit that calculates an absolute squared value of an inner product between a unit vector of observation samples from the antennas and a time delayed unit vector of observation samples from the antennas, and identifies a largest absolute squared inner product value among the calculated absolute squared inner product values, wherein the frame synchronization unit converts each component of an observation sample to a sign magnitude value having a sign that is the same as the sign of the observation sample but a magnitude that is a fixed magnitude value while the gain is adjusted, uses the sign magnitude value as a vector element for the inner product calculation while the gain is adjusted, and uses the observation sample as a vector element for the inner product calculation after the gain has been adjusted to the fixed value. - View Dependent Claims (86)
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87. A method comprising:
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receiving observations of a wireless signal via multiple antennas; measuring power levels of the observations; identifying a largest power level among the measured power levels; selecting an amplifier gain based on the largest measured power level; adjusting the amplifier gain to a fixed value so that the largest power level does not exceed a threshold; applying the adjusted amplifier gain to each of the observations; and performing frame synchronization, wherein frame synchronization includes; calculating an absolute squared value of an inner product between a unit vector of the observation samples from the antennas and a time delayed unit vector of the observation samples from the antennas, identifying a largest absolute squared inner product value among the calculated absolute squared inner product values, converting each component of each of the observation samples to a sign magnitude value having a sign that is the same as the sign of the observation sample but a magnitude that is a fixed magnitude value while the gain is adjusted, using the sign magnitude value as a vector element for the inner product calculation while the gain is adjusted, and using the observation sample as a vector element for the inner product calculation after the gain has been adjusted to the fixed value. - View Dependent Claims (88)
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89. A wireless receiver comprising:
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multiple antennas that receive observations of a wireless signal; an amplifier that applies a gain to each of the observations; a gain control unit that measures power levels of the observations, adjusts the amplifier gain during a preamble period of the wireless signal based on at least one of the measured power levels, and adjusts the gain to a fixed value when a largest one of the measured power levels is less than a threshold level; and a frame synchronization unit that synchronizes a frame of the wireless signal, wherein the frame synchronization unit uses a sign of the observations and a reference magnitude before the amplifier gain is adjusted to the fixed value, and uses the sign of the observations a magnitude of the observations as an observation vector after the amplifier gain is adjusted to the fixed value. - View Dependent Claims (90)
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91. A method comprising:
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receiving observations of a wireless signal via multiple antennas; amplifying the observations with a gain; measuring power levels of the observations; adjusting the gain during a preamble period of the wireless signal based on at least one of the measured power levels; adjusting the gain to a fixed value when a largest one of the measured power levels is less than a threshold level; and synchronizing a frame of the wireless signal, wherein frame synchronization uses a sign of the observations and a reference magnitude before the amplifier gain is adjusted to the fixed value, and uses the sign of the observations and a magnitude of the observations as an observation vector after the amplifier gain is adjusted to the fixed value. - View Dependent Claims (92)
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Specification