Method and system for distributed communication

• US 8,660,057 B2
• Filed: 08/26/2011
• Issued: 02/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Golba LLC
• Original Assignee: Golba LLC
• Inventors: Moshfeghi, Mehran
• Primary Examiner(s): Moore, Ian N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Smith, Eric P
• Application Number:
  US13/219,592
• Publication Number:
  US 20120057508A1
• Time in Patent Office: 914 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/315
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0064 with separate antennas for the more than one band H04B1/0053 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0096 where a full band is frequency converted into another full band
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/28 the receiver comprising at least one semiconductor device having three or more electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/38 Transceivers, i.e. devices in which transmitter and receiver form a structural unit and in which at least one part is used for functions of transmitting and receiving
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/14 Relay systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/0002 analog front ends; means for connecting modulators, demodulators or transceivers to a transmission line duplex arrangements H04L5/143
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/1461 Suppression of signals in the return path, i.e. bidirectional control circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/20 Master-slave selection or change arrangements

Abstract

A decentralized communication device is provided that facilitates optimal positioning and orientation of one or more antennas for wireless communication with external devices. The decentralized communication device includes one or more master components and one or more slave components. The master and the slave components are physically separate and communicate wirelessly. In some embodiments the slave acts as a carrier frequency translator between the master and an external wireless device, where it communicates with the external device using a first frequency and communicates with the master using a second frequency which is different from the first frequency. In another embodiment the slave has most or all the physical layer to do the digital coding, digital modulation, data framing, data formatting and data packetization for communicating with an external device, in which case digital coding and digital modulation is distributed between the master and the slave.

Claims

1. A communication device, comprising:

a master component comprising;

a digital baseband module;

a modem module communicatively coupled to the digital baseband module; and

an antenna communicatively coupled to the modem module;

a set of slave components, each slave component comprising;

a first antenna configured to wirelessly communicate with an external device using a first carrier frequency;

a second antenna configured to wirelessly communicate with the antenna of the master component using a second carrier frequency; and

a frequency converter configured to (i) convert signals received through the second antenna from the second carrier frequency into the first carrier frequency and (ii) convert signals received through the first antenna from the first carrier frequency into the second carrier frequency, wherein the first carrier frequency is lower than the second carrier frequency, wherein the first antenna is larger than the second antenna,

wherein the digital baseband module is configured to select a plurality of slave components from the set of slave components to communicate with the external device,

wherein the modem module is configured to split a signal received at the modem module at a third frequency into a set of signal streams at the second carrier frequency, the third carrier frequency higher than the second carrier frequency, and

wherein the master component antenna is configured to (i) receive the set of signal streams from the modem module and (ii) transmit each signal stream in the set of signal streams to the second antenna of one of the slave components in the plurality of slave components.

2. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the master component and each of the slave components are physically separate and each includes a separate power source.

3. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the master component, each of the slave components, and the external device are on separate integrated circuit (IC) chips included in an electronic device, wherein the electronic device uses the master component, the slave components, and the external device for chip-to-chip communication.

4. The communication device of claim 1, wherein each slave component in the set of slave components operates with one of wireless power and rechargeable batteries.

5. The communication device of claim 4, wherein the wireless power operates through one of radio frequency (RF) and magnetic induction.

6. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the master component operates with one of wireless power and rechargeable batteries.

7. The communication device of claim 6, wherein the wireless power operates through one of radio frequency (RF) and magnetic induction.

8. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the baseband module is configured to (i) receive bits of digital information and send digitally modulated signals to the modem module and (ii) receive signals from the modem module and extract bits of digital information from the received signals.

9. The communication device of claim 1, wherein each slave component in the set of slave components further comprises a digital signal processing unit for digital coding, digital modulation, data framing, data formatting and data packetization for a standard or for conversion.

10. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the master component further comprises a master component control unit and each slave component in the set of slave components further comprises a slave component control unit communicatively coupled to the master component control unit through a control channel for synchronization, gain control, programming, calibration and changing of parameters.

11. The communication device of claim 1, wherein each slave component in the set of slave components further comprises:

a duplexer communicatively coupled to the first antenna, the duplexer configured to receive signals from the first antenna and sending signals to the first antenna;

a power amplifier communicatively coupled to the duplexer, the power amplifier configured to amplify the signals sent to the duplexer; and

a low noise amplifier configured to amplify the signals received from the duplexer.

12. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the set of slave components comprise a first slave component using a first wireless communication standard and a second slave component using a second wireless communication standard.

13. The communication device of claim 12, wherein the first wireless communication standard is one of Wi-Fi, 802.11 ac, 802.11 ad, cellular second generation (2G), cellular third generation (3G), cellular fourth generation (4G), Bluetooth, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), WiGig, Wireless HD, HD Radio, and Ultra-wideband, wherein the second wireless standard is a different one of Wi-Fi, 802.11 ac, 802.11 ad, cellular second generation (2G), cellular third generation (3G), cellular fourth generation (4G), Bluetooth, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), WiGig, Wireless HD, HD Radio, and Ultra-wideband.

14. The communication device of claim 1, wherein said plurality of slave components includes fewer slave components than the set of slave components.

15. A communication device, comprising:

a master component comprising;

a processing unit; and

an antenna communicatively coupled to the processing unit;

a set of slave components, each slave component comprising;

a first antenna configured to wirelessly communicate with a plurality of external devices using a first carrier frequency;

a second antenna configured to wirelessly communicate with the antenna of the master component using a second carrier frequency; and

a frequency converter configured to (i) convert signals received through the second antenna from the second carrier frequency into the first carrier frequency and (ii) convert signals received through the first antenna from the first frequency into the second frequency, wherein the first carrier frequency is lower than the second carrier frequency, wherein the first antenna is larger than the second antenna,

wherein the master component processing unit is configured to select a plurality of slave components from the set of slave components to communicate with a particular external device from the plurality of external devices based on a set of criteria,

wherein the master component antenna is configured to transmit signals to the second antenna of each slave component in the plurality of slave components using the second carrier frequency,

wherein the master component processing unit is further configured to change RF delays, phases, and amplitudes of the signals transmitted from the master component antenna to the second antenna of each slave component in the plurality of slave components to maximize a signal received at the particular external device from the plurality of slave components, and

wherein the plurality of slave components are configured to (i) receive signals transmitted from the master component antenna and (ii) perform beam-forming by combining signals transmitted from the first antenna of each slave component in the plurality of slave components to the particular external device into one channel using the first carrier frequency.

16. The communication device of claim 15, wherein the processing unit is one of a DSP and a processor.

17. The communication device of claim 15, wherein the set of criteria comprises one of optimal bit error rate of signals exchanged between the master component and one or more slave components, signal to noise ratio of signals exchanged between the master component and one or more slave components, power consumption of the master component, power consumption of one or more slave components, optimal bit error rate of signals exchanged between one or more slave components and one or more external devices, signal to noise ratio of signals exchanged between one or more slave components and one or more external devices, and Electronic Vector Magnitude (EVM).

18. The communication device of claim 15, wherein the set of criteria comprises determining that communication between a first slave component and the master component has a performance that is below a threshold, wherein selecting the plurality of slave components comprises programming a second slave component as an intermediary to (i) receive signals from the master component and send the signals received from the master component to the first slave component and (ii) receive signals from the first slave component and send the signals received from the first slave component to the master component.

19. The communication device of claim 18, wherein selecting the plurality of slave components further comprises programming the first slave component to (i) receive signals from the second slave component and send the signals received from the second slave component to an external device and (ii) receive signals from the external device and send the signals received from the external device to the second slave component.

20. The communication device of claim 15, wherein the master component communicates with a first slave component from the plurality of slave components using a first wireless communication standard, wherein the master component communicates with a second slave component from the plurality of slave components using a second wireless communication standard.

21. The communication device of claim 20, wherein the first wireless communication standard is one of Wi-Fi, 802.11 ac, 802.11 ad, cellular second generation (2G), cellular third generation (3G), cellular fourth generation (4G), Bluetooth, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), WiGig, Wireless HD, HD Radio, and Ultra-wideband, wherein the second wireless standard is a different one of Wi-Fi, 802.11 ac, 802.11 ad, cellular second generation (2G), cellular third generation (3G), cellular fourth generation (4G), Bluetooth, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), WiGig, Wireless HD, HD Radio, and Ultra-wideband.

22. The communication device of claim 15, wherein the master component further comprises a beam-forming module configured to communicate with the second antenna of each slave component in the set of slave components using a unique combination of an RF delay, a signal phase, and a signal amplitude used by the particular slave component.

23. The communication device of claim 22, wherein the beam-forming module is further configured to receive signals with the unique combination of the RF delay, the signal phase, and the signal amplitude from each slave component in the set of slave components and combining the signals received by the beam-forming module into one communication channel.

24. The communication device of claim 22, wherein the master component further comprises a transmitter module, wherein the beam-forming module is integrated in the transmitter module of the master component.

25. The communication device of claim 15, wherein the master component is a first master component, wherein the communication device further comprises a set of master components other than the first master component, wherein the processing unit of the first master component is further configured to select one or more master components from the plurality of master components to directly communicate with the first master component.

26. The communication device of claim 15, wherein said plurality of slave components includes fewer slave components than the set of slave components.

27. A communication device, comprising:

a master component comprising;

a digital baseband module;

a plurality of modem modules communicatively coupled to the digital baseband module, each modem module configured to modulate and demodulate a carrier frequency in a plurality of carrier frequencies with digital information; and

an antenna communicatively coupled to the plurality of modem modules;

a set of slave components, each slave component comprising;

a first antenna configured to wirelessly communicate with an external device using a particular carrier frequency;

a second antenna configured to wirelessly communicate with the antenna of the master component using a corresponding carrier frequency from a plurality of carrier frequencies, each carrier frequency in the plurality of carrier frequencies higher than the particular carrier frequency,

wherein the digital baseband module is configured to select a plurality of slave components from the set of slave components to communicate with the external device,

wherein the plurality of modem modules is configured to perform space-time coding of signals transmitted from the master component antenna to the second antenna of each slave component in the plurality of slave components, the space-time coded signals having a different carrier frequency corresponding to each slave component in the plurality of slave components, and

wherein each slave component in the plurality of slave components is configured to (i) receive signals in the corresponding frequency of the slave component from the master component antenna, (ii) convert the received signal from the corresponding frequency to said particular carrier frequency, and (iii) transmit the converted signals from the first antenna of the slave component to the external device using the particular carrier frequency.

28. The communication device of claim 27, wherein the slave component further comprises a first duplexer configured to (i) receive signals with carrier frequencies in the plurality of carrier frequencies from the plurality of frequency converters and send each received signal to the second antenna of the slave component and (ii) receive signals with carrier frequencies in the plurality of carrier frequencies from the second antenna and send each received signal to the plurality of frequency converters.

29. The communication device of claim 27, wherein the slave component further comprises a second duplexer configured to (i) receive signals with the particular carrier frequency from the plurality of antennas of the slave components and send the received signals to the plurality of frequency converters, (ii) receive signals with the particular carrier frequency from the plurality of frequency converters and (iii) send the signals received from the plurality of frequency converters to the plurality of antennas of the slave component.

30. The communication device of claim 27, wherein said plurality of slave components includes fewer slave components than the set of slave components.