Timing and time information extraction in a radio controlled clock receiver
First Claim
1. A radio receiver method, said method comprising:
- receiving, in a radio receiver circuit, a phase modulated (PM), pulse width modulated (PWM)/amplitude shift keyed (ASK) broadcast signal encoded with time information frames;
extracting, in said radio receiver circuit, said time information frames from the phase of said received signal;
wherein each said time information frame includes a timing information field for timing tracking based on a synchronization sequence field spanning multiple seconds, a current time field for time acquisition and an additional information field for event scheduling;
wherein said phase modulation comprises pulse width modulation/amplitude shift keyed modulated data transmitted with and without a phase reversal; and
wherein information represented by said phase modulation is independent of the information represented by said pulse width modulation/amplitude shift keyed modulation.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A novel and useful system and method for extracting timing, time and additional information from a broadcast received in a radio controlled clock (RCC) receiver. The RCC receiver extracts timing information represented by a known synchronization sequence that is used for acquisition and tracking purposes. The RCC receiver extracts time information as a merged 26-bit time information word linearly coded into 31 bits comprising the number of minutes (or hours) since the turn of the current century. A minute counter representing the 26 bits is converted into the date, hour, and minute. The RCC extracts additional information including the schedule for the next daylight saving time transition and for an imminent leap second. The communications protocol optionally employs error correcting codes to provide protection for data fields in the frame, which the RCC may use to enhance reception reliability in the presence of noise and interference.
-
Citations
28 Claims
-
1. A radio receiver method, said method comprising:
-
receiving, in a radio receiver circuit, a phase modulated (PM), pulse width modulated (PWM)/amplitude shift keyed (ASK) broadcast signal encoded with time information frames; extracting, in said radio receiver circuit, said time information frames from the phase of said received signal; wherein each said time information frame includes a timing information field for timing tracking based on a synchronization sequence field spanning multiple seconds, a current time field for time acquisition and an additional information field for event scheduling; wherein said phase modulation comprises pulse width modulation/amplitude shift keyed modulated data transmitted with and without a phase reversal; and wherein information represented by said phase modulation is independent of the information represented by said pulse width modulation/amplitude shift keyed modulation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A radio receiver method, said method comprising:
-
receiving, in a radio receiver circuit, a phase modulated (PM), pulse width modulated (PWM)/amplitude shift keyed (ASK) broadcast signal encoded with time information frames; extracting, in said radio receiver circuit, said time information frames from the phase of said received signal; wherein each said time information frame includes a timing information field for timing tracking based on a synchronization sequence field spanning multiple seconds, a current time field for time acquisition and an additional information field for event scheduling including a daylight saving time data field and leap second data field; wherein said current time field and said additional information field are protected using an error correcting code; wherein said phase modulation comprises pulse width modulation/amplitude shift keyed modulated data transmitted with and without a phase reversal; and wherein information represented by said phase modulation is independent of the information represented by said pulse width modulation/amplitude shift keyed modulation. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
-
-
14. A radio receiver, comprising:
-
a receiver circuit operative to receive a phase modulation (PM) over pulse width modulation (PWM)/amplitude shift keyed (ASK) broadcast signal encoded with time information frames; a circuit operative to extract said time information frames from the phase of said received signal; wherein each said time information frame includes a timing information field for timing tracking based on a synchronization sequence field spanning multiple seconds, a current time field for time acquisition and an additional information field for event scheduling including a daylight saving time data field and leap second data field; wherein said current time field and said additional information field are protected using an error correcting code; wherein said phase modulation comprises pulse width modulation/amplitude shift keyed modulated data transmitted with and without a phase reversal; and wherein information represented by said phase modulation is independent of the information represented by said pulse width modulation/amplitude shift keyed modulation. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
-
-
17. A radio receiver, comprising:
-
a receiver circuit operative to receive a phase modulated (PM), pulse width modulation (PWM)/amplitude shift keyed (ASK) broadcast signal encoded with time information frames; a circuit operative to extract said time information frames from the phase of said received signal; wherein each said time information frame includes a timing information field for timing tracking based on a synchronization sequence field spanning multiple seconds, a current time field for time acquisition and an additional information field for event scheduling; wherein said phase modulation comprises pulse width modulation/amplitude shift keyed modulated data transmitted with and without a phase reversal; and wherein information represented by said phase modulation is independent of the information represented by said pulse width modulation/amplitude shift keyed modulation. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
-
Specification