System controllable by an external microcontroller via an interface

• US 7,453,397 B2
• Filed: 06/22/2006
• Issued: 11/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telit Cinterion Deutschland GmbH (Thales SA)
• Original Assignee: Cinterion Wireless Modules GmbH (Thales SA)
• Inventors: Schroter, Hartmut
• Primary Examiner(s): Issing; Gregory C
• Application Number:
  US11/425,864
• Publication Number:
  US 20070296628A1
• Time in Patent Office: 880 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 342/357.64
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/25 involving aiding data received from a cooperating element, e.g. assisted GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/35 Constructional details or hardware or software details of the signal processing chain
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/009 Transmission of differential positioning data to mobile

Abstract

A system controllable by an external microcontroller via an interface external to the system includes a radio module, and a GPS receiver. The radio module is adapted to 1) pass messages received via the interface to the GPS receiver via an internal interface, and 2) to receive messages from the GPS receiver via an internal interface and pass them further to the external interface.

Claims

1. An arrangement, comprising:

a sub-system comprising a satellite positioning system receiver (SPSR) and a radio module, wherein the radio module is communicatively connected to an external interface of the sub-system, and further communicatively directly connected to the SPSR via an internal interface of the sub-system,

a microcontroller external to said sub-system and communicatively only connected to the sub-system via the external interface of the sub-system;

wherein

the SPSR communicates with the radio module via the internal interface,

the radio module passes at least part of the communication from the SPSR to the external interface, and wherein communication received from the external interface to the radio module is transmitted to the SPSR via the internal interface,

and wherein the radio module comprises a processing unit that controls the radio module using a first subset of commands received from the external interface, and controls the SPSR using a second subset of commands received from the external interface, wherein the first and second subsets have a common format.

2. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the commands are AT commands.

3. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the sub-system further comprises a real time clock operatively coupled to the radio module and the SPSR.

4. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit synchronizes the activation of the SPSR with the radio module.

5. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit synchronizes the setting of the SPSR and the radio module to a standby state.

6. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit transmits or receives communication to or from a cellular network.

7. The arrangement according to claim 6, wherein the cellular network is a cellular network supporting GSM on at least one of the following frequency bands:

GSM 850 MHz, GSM 900 MHz, GSM 1800 MHz, and GSM 1900 MHz.

8. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the SPSR is a GPS receiver.

9. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the SPSR is a Galileo-system.

10. A method for transmitting data in an arrangement utilizing microcontroller, comprising the steps of

transmitting data from a satellite positioning system receiver (SPSR) in a sub-system to a radio module in the sub-system via an internal interface;

passing at least part of the data from the SPSR to an external interface of the sub-system via the radio module;

passing data from the external interface to the radio module and to the SPSR via the internal interface,

controlling the radio module using a processing unit located in the radio module, wherein the step of controlling the radio module is done by a first subset of commands received from the external interface; and

controlling the SPSR using the processing unit, wherein the step of controlling the SPSR is done by a second subset of commands received from the external interface, and wherein the first and second subsets have a common format.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the commands are AT commands.

12. The method according to claim 10, further comprising the step of synchronizing the activation of the SPSR with the radio module via the processing unit.

13. The method according to claim 10, further comprising the step of synchronizing the setting of the SPSR and the radio module to a standby state via the processing unit.

14. The method according to claim 10, wherein the SPSR is a GPS receiver.

15. The method according to claim 10, wherein the SPSR is a Galileo-system.

16. A system, comprising:

a device comprising a satellite positioning system receiver (SPSR) having a first wireless interface and a radio module having a second wireless interface, wherein the radio module further comprises a first and second interface, and the SPSR further comprises a third interface connected with the second interface,

a microcontroller external to said device and communicatively connected to the device via the first interface;

wherein

the SPSR communicates with the radio module via the second and third interfaces,

the radio module passes at least part of the communication from the SPSR to the first interface, and wherein communication received from the first interface to the radio module is transmitted to the SPSR via the second and third interfaces,

and wherein the radio module comprises a processing unit that controls the radio module using a first subset of commands received from the first interface, and controls the SPSR using a second subset of commands received from the first interface, wherein the first and second subsets have a common format.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the system further comprises a real time clock operatively coupled to the radio module and the SPSR.

18. The system according to claim 16, wherein the processing unit synchronizes the activation of the SPSR with the radio module.

19. The system according to claim 16, wherein the processing unit synchronizes the setting of the SPSR and the radio module to a standby state.

20. The system according to claim 16, wherein the processing unit transmits or receives communication to or from a cellular network.