Modulation division multiple access

• US 8,942,327 B2
• Filed: 10/11/2012
• Issued: 01/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Jia, Ming, Ma, Jianglei, Zhu, Peiying, Tong, Wen, Dodd, Curt
• Primary Examiner(s): Guarino, Rahel
• Application Number:
  US13/649,811
• Publication Number:
  US 20130034049A1
• Time in Patent Office: 838 Days
• Field of Search: 375/343, 375/260, 375/261, 375/264, 375/267, 375/269, 375/272, 375/279, 375/298, 375/299, 375/303, 375/308, 375/322, 375/334, 375/347, 375/349, 370/315, 370/297, 370/319, 370/321, 370/347, 370/344, 370/469, 370/473, 370/332, 370/539, 455/60, 455/103, 455/500, 455/503, 455/63.2
• US Class Current: 375/343
• CPC Class Codes: H03C 3/00 Angle modulation H03C5/00, H03C7/00 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/0226 sounding signals per se
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/3488 Multiresolution systems

Abstract

The present invention employs hierarchical modulation to simultaneously transmit information on different modulation layers using a carrier RF signal. Initially, first data to be transmitted is assigned to a first modulation layer and second data is assigned to a second modulation layer. In one embodiment of the present invention, the first and second data are assigned based on reliability criteria. The first and second modulation layers are hierarchical modulation layers of the carrier RF signal. Once assigned, the first data is transmitted using the first modulation layer of the carrier RF signal and the second data is transmitted using the second modulation layer of the carrier RF signal. In one embodiment of the present invention, information may be transmitted to one end user using one modulation layer, and information may be transmitted to a different end user using a different modulation layer.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting information to at least one user element from at least one communication interface comprising:

receiving first data intended for transmission to a first receiver via first and second antennas of the at least one communication interface and second data intended for transmission to a second receiver via only the first antenna; and

transmitting the first and second data using a plurality of modulation layers of a carrier radio frequency signal, wherein each modulation layer of the plurality of modulation layers is a hierarchical modulation layer of the carrier radio frequency signal, and wherein said transmitting comprises transmitting the first data to the first receiver using a first modulation layer of the plurality of modulation layers and transmitting the second data to the second receiver using a second modulation layer of the plurality of modulation layers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the carrier radio frequency signal comprises a plurality of modulation symbols, such that each of certain of the plurality of modulation symbols comprises a plurality of bits that provides the plurality of data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the carrier radio frequency signal comprises a plurality of modulation symbols, such that each of certain of the plurality of modulation symbols comprises a plurality of bits that provides the first and second data, and the plurality of bits comprises at least one first order bit that provides the first data and at least one second order bit that provides the second data.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one first order bit is of a higher order than the at least one second order bit.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the certain of the plurality of modulation symbols are quadrature amplitude modulation symbols.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the quadrature amplitude modulation symbols are associated with sixteen or sixty-four quadrature amplitude modulation.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data is associated with a first cellular telephone call and the second data is associated with a second cellular telephone call.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning the first data to the first modulation layer and the second data to the second modulation layer based on reliability criteria.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the reliability criteria comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of signal strength, communications channel conditions, and priority of transfer of the first data and the second data.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving comprises receiving third data for transmission to a third receiver, wherein said transmitting comprises transmitting the third data using a third modulation layer.

11. A system for transmitting information at a network element, the system comprising:

transmission circuitry for performing wireless transmission comprising a first antenna and a second antenna; and

processing hardware coupled to the transmission circuitry, wherein the processing hardware is configured to;

receive first data intended for transmission to a first receiver and second data intended for transmission to a second receiver; and

transmit the first and second data using a plurality of modulation layers of a carrier radio frequency signal via the transmission circuitry, wherein each modulation layer of the plurality of modulation layers is a hierarchical modulation layer of the carrier radio frequency signal, and wherein said transmitting comprises;

transmitting the first data to the first receiver using a first modulation layer of the plurality of modulation layers using the first and second antennas; and

transmitting the second data to the second receiver using a second modulation layer of the plurality of modulation layers using only the first antenna.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the carrier radio frequency signal comprises a plurality of modulation symbols, such that each of certain of the plurality of modulation symbols comprises a plurality of bits that provides the plurality of data.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the carrier radio frequency signal comprises a plurality of modulation symbols, such that each of certain of the plurality of modulation symbols comprises a plurality of bits that provides the first and second data, and the plurality of bits comprises at least one first order bit that provides the first data and at least one second order bit that provides the second data.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one first order bit is of a higher order than the at least one second order bit.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the certain of the plurality of modulation symbols are quadrature amplitude modulation symbols.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the quadrature amplitude modulation symbols are associated with sixteen or sixty-four quadrature amplitude modulation.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the first data is associated with a first cellular telephone call and the second data is associated with a second cellular telephone call.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the processing hardware is further configured to:

assign the first data to the first modulation layer and the second data to the second modulation layer based on reliability criteria.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the reliability criteria comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of signal strength, communications channel conditions, and priority of transfer of the first data and the second data.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein said receiving comprises receiving third data for transmission to a third receiver, wherein said transmitting comprises transmitting the third data using a third modulation layer.