White space spectrum sensor for television band devices

• US 8,373,759 B2
• Filed: 08/18/2009
• Issued: 02/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Wi-LAN Inc.
• Original Assignee: Quarterhill Inc. (f/k/a Wi-LAN Inc.)
• Inventors: Samarasooriya, Vajira, Wu, Shiquan
• Primary Examiner(s): Harold, Jefferey
• Assistant Examiner(s): Huang, Sam
• Application Number:
  US12/543,259
• Publication Number:
  US 20110043710A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,274 Days
• Field of Search: 348/192, 348/181, 348/731, 348/732, 348/735, 348/E5.097, 348/E17.001, 455/509, 455/226.1, 455/226.2, 455/552
• US Class Current: 348/192
• CPC Class Codes: H03J 1/0091 provided with means for scanning over a band of frequencies H03J1/0058 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/0006 Assessment of spectral gaps suitable for allocating digitally modulated signals, e.g. for carrier allocation in cognitive radio for spectrum sharing between different networks H04W16/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42203 sound input device, e.g. microphone
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4345 Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4383 Accessing a communication channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/50 Tuning indicators; Automatic tuning control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks

Abstract

A television band device has DTV pilot signal detection logic that generates DTV pilot signal detection decisions associated with a monitored television channel. A wireless microphone detection logic generates wireless microphone detection decisions associated with the monitored television channel. A sensing manager receives DTV pilot signal detection decisions and the wireless microphone detection decisions and analyzes at least one the respective decisions to determine whether the monitored television channel is available white space.

Claims

1. A television band device, comprising:

DTV pilot signal detection logic that searches for a DTV pilot signal in a smoothed power spectrum derived from a television channel signal frequency translated to a television channel signal centered at an intermediate frequency and generates DTV pilot signal detection decisions associated with the monitored television channel;

wireless microphone detection logic that searches for wireless microphone or narrowband signals in the smoothed power spectrum and generates wireless microphone detection decisions associated with the monitored television channel; and

a sensing manager that receives the DTV pilot signal detection decisions and the wireless microphone detection decisions and analyzes at least one the respective decisions to determine whether the monitored television channel is available white space.

2. The television band device as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:

DTV field sync detection logic that searches for a DTV field sync sequence in a baseband representation of the television signal centered at the intermediate frequency and generates DTV field sync detection decisions associated with the monitored television channel; and

the sensing manager analyzes the DTV field sync decisions to determine whether the monitored television channel is available white space if the DTV pilot signal detection decisions and the wireless microphone detection decisions respectively indicate that the monitored television channel is available white space.

3. The television band device as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:

a radio frequency front end controlled by the sensing manager, the radio frequency front end selecting a signal associated with the monitored television channel and outputs a gain controlled analog television channel signal;

an analog-to-digital converter that converts the analog signal to a digital signal; and

a digital down converter that converts the digital representation of the television channel signal centered at the intermediate frequency.

4. The television band device as claimed in claim 3 further comprising:

a down converter and decimator that receives the television channel signal centered at the intermediate frequency and converts it to a baseband signal;

a digital gain controller that automatically controls a gain of the baseband signal;

a square root raised cosine filter and equalizer that filters the baseband signal;

a correlator that correlates the filtered baseband signal with an ATSC field-sync pattern and outputs correlation data to the DTV field sync detection logic.

5. The television band device as claimed in claim 3 further comprising:

a Fast Fourier Transform that receives the television channel signal centered at the intermediate frequency as input and outputs the Fast Fourier Transform of the television channel signal centered at the intermediate frequency as a serial data stream; and

a spectral smoothing filter that receives the serial data stream and outputs the smoothed power spectrum to the DTV pilot signal detection logic and the wireless microphone detection logic.

6. The television band device as claimed in claim 5 wherein the spectral smoothing filter comprises:

a complex conjugate function that computes a complex conjugate of each Fast Fourier Transform bin output in the serial data stream and a multiplier that multiplies the bin output with the complex conjugate to compute a signal power of the bin; and

an exponential averaging filter that adds a weighted average of the signal power of the bin with a weighted average of the signal power of the same bin in a previous FFT cycle to compute the smoothed power spectrum.

7. The television band device as claimed in claim 6 wherein the exponential averaging filter comprises:

a multiplier function that multiplies the signal power of the bin by a first constant to compute a first weighted average;

a multiplier function that multiplies an adjusted average of the signal power of the same bin in the previous FFT cycle by a second constant to compute a second weighted average; and

a summer that adds the first weighted average and the second weighted average to compute the smoothed power spectrum.

8. A television band white space sensor, comprising:

a first down converter circuit that digitizes and down converts a radio frequency front end output television channel signal to a television channel signal centered at an intermediate frequency;

a Fast Fourier Transform that receives the television channel signal centered at the intermediate frequency and transforms it to a complex serial output signal;

a spectral smoothing filter that averages the complex serial output signal to compute a smoothed power spectrum in serial mode;

DTV pilot signal detection logic that receives the smoothed power spectrum, searches the smoothed power spectrum for a DTV pilot signal and outputs DTV pilot signal detection decisions;

wireless microphone detection logic that receives the smoothed power spectrum, searches the smoothed power spectrum for a wireless microphone or other narrowband signal and outputs wireless microphone detection decisions; and

a sensing manager that receives the respective detection decisions from the DTV pilot signal detection logic and the wireless microphone detection logic and analyzes at least one of the respective detection decisions to determine whether the radio frequency front end is tuned to a white space television channel.

9. The television band white space sensor as claimed in claim 8, further comprising:

a down converter and decimator that converts the television channel signal centered at the intermediate frequency to a baseband signal;

a square root raised cosine filter and equalizer (SRRC) that filters the baseband signal and outputs a filtered baseband signal;

a correlator that correlates the filtered baseband signal with a DTV field sync pattern;

DTV field sync detection logic that analyzes output of the correlator to detect a DTV field sync and outputs DTV field sync detection decisions to the sensing manager.

10. The television band white space sensor as claimed in claim 9 wherein the sensing manager further comprises logic for analyzing the field sync detection decisions if the DTV pilot detection decisions and the WM sensing decisions indicate to the sensing manager that the radio frequency front end is tuned to a white space television channel.

11. A method of sensing a white space in a television band, comprising:

selecting a television channel to sense;

scanning a television channel signal frequency translated to a signal centered at an intermediate frequency to detect a DTV pilot signal;

if a DTV pilot signal is detected, selecting a next television signal to sense;

else, for a predetermined period of time repeatedly selecting the television channel and scanning the signal centered at the intermediate frequency to detect a wireless microphone or other narrowband signal; and

if the wireless microphone or other narrowband signal is not detected at least a predetermined number of times during the predetermined period of time, confirming the selected television channel to be white space.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, further comprising:

scanning a baseband signal derived from the signal centered at the intermediate frequency to detect a DTV field sync pattern;

if neither the DTV pilot signal nor the wireless microphone or other narrowband signal is detected, determining if the DTV field sync pattern was detected; and

if the DTV field sync pattern is not detected, confirming the selected television channel to be white space.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12 wherein selecting the television channel to sense is controlled by a sensing manager that selects the television channel and passes frequency parameters to a radio frequency front end connected to an antenna.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13 wherein the sensing manager maintains a channel sensing matrix of television channels to be sensed, and the sensing manager maintains a record in the channel sensing matrix of the number of times each channel is repeatedly selected to detect a wireless microphone or other narrowband signal.

15. The method as claimed in claim 11 wherein scanning the signal centered at the intermediate frequency associated with the television channel to detect the DTV pilot signal comprises:

using a smoothed power spectrum output by a Fast Fourier Transform that receives the signal centered at the intermediate frequency and a spectral smoothing filter that receives output of the Fast Fourier Transform and outputs the smoothed power spectrum to compute a power level of a first window centered on an expected pilot signal position of an ATSC television signal;

using the smoothed power spectrum to compute a power level of a second window that does not overlap the first window, the second window being within an occupied bandwidth of the ATSC television signal;

scaling the power level in second window to equalize a spectrum width over which power is computed in the first and second windows, and computing a power difference between the first window and the second window;

comparing the power difference with a predetermined threshold; and

if the power difference exceeds the predetermined threshold, confirming that a DTV pilot signal has been detected.

16. The method as claimed in claim 12 wherein scanning the baseband signal derived from the signal centered at the intermediate frequency to detect the DTV field sync pattern comprises:

passing the baseband signal to a square root raised cosine filter and equalizer;

correlating an output of the square root raised cosine filter and equalizer with an ATSC DTV field sync pattern;

computing an absolute value of the correlator output;

averaging the absolute value with an immediately previous absolute value using a programmable weighting function;

multiplying the averaged absolute value with a programmable threshold, while searching for a peak value in a window of a predetermined number of the absolute values;

comparing the peak value with a product of the multiplication and, if the peak value is greater than the product, determining that a DTV field sync has been detected.

17. The method as claimed in claim 11 wherein scanning the signal centered at the intermediate frequency to detect the wireless microphone or other narrowband signal comprises:

converting, from a linear scale to decibels, a smoothed power spectrum output by a Fast Fourier Transform that receives the signal centered at the intermediate frequency and a spectral smoothing filter that receives output of the Fast Fourier Transform and outputs the smoothed power spectrum;

finding a minimum power level and a maximum power level in the converted power spectrum;

defining a plurality of histogram cells using the minimum power level and the maximum power level;

computing a power level of a plurality of wireless microphone sensing windows using the smoothed power spectrum;

computing a frequency histogram using the wireless microphone sensing window power levels;

estimating a noise power spectral density of the smoothed power spectrum using the frequency histogram;

converting the estimated noise power spectral density to a linear scale;

computing a noise power of each one of the plurality of wireless microphone sensing windows;

computing a noise threshold for each one of the plurality of wireless microphone sensing windows using the noise power; and

comparing the computed power level with the computed noise threshold for each one of the plurality of wireless microphone sensing windows to determine whether a wireless microphone or other narrowband signal is detected in any one of the plurality of wireless microphone sensing windows.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17 wherein the plurality of wireless microphone sensing windows are overlapped in frequency.

19. The method as claimed in claim 17 further comprising generating a binary wireless microphone decision for each of the wireless microphone sensing windows.

20. The method as claimed in claim 19 further comprising searching for localized signal energy clusters using the wireless microphone sensing decisions by determining if a predetermined number of adjacent wireless microphone decisions are binary 1.

21. The method as claimed in claim 20 determining if the wireless microphone or other narrowband signal was detected at least a predetermined number of times during the predetermined period of time comprises:

determining if at least one localized signal energy cluster was detected each time the television channel was sensed, and if so setting a corresponding channel scan decision to binary 1, else setting the corresponding channel scan decision to binary 0;

determining if a predetermined number of the channel scan decisions are binary 1.

22. The method as claimed in claim 21 wherein determining if the predetermined number of the channel scan decisions are binary 1 comprises determining if at least fifty percent of the channel scan decisions are binary 1.

23. The method as claimed in claim 22 further comprising determining that no wireless microphone or other narrowband signal was detected if less than fifty percent of the channel scan decisions are binary 1.

24. A method of sensing a white space in a television band, comprising:

tuning a radio frequency front end to a frequency associated with a television channel in the television band;

converting output from the radio frequency front end to a signal centered at an intermediate frequency;

scanning the signal centered at the intermediate frequency to detect a DTV pilot signal;

if a DTV pilot signal is detected, tuning the radio frequency front end to a frequency associated with another television channel in the television band;

else, scanning the signal centered at the intermediate frequency for a wireless microphone or other narrowband signal; and

, for a predetermined period of time repeatedly tuning the radio frequency front end to the frequency associated with the television channel and scanning the signal centered at the intermediate frequency to detect the wireless microphone or other narrowband signal; and

if a wireless microphone or other narrowband signal is detected, tuning the radio frequency front end to a frequency associated with another television channel in the television band.

25. The method of sensing a white space in a television band as claimed in claim 24, further comprising:

if the DTV pilot signal and the wireless microphone or other narrowband signal is not detected, converting the signal centered at the intermediate frequency to a baseband signal and scanning the baseband signal to detect a DTV field sync pattern; and

if the DTV field sync pattern is not detected, confirming the television channel to be white space.