Automatic gain control and baseband preintegration to reduce computation requirements at lower data rates

• US 9,224,016 B2
• Filed: 06/21/2011
• Issued: 12/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zest Labs, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intelleflex Corporation
• Inventors: Kawaguchi, Dean
• Primary Examiner(s): Ahn, Sam K
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ali, Shawkat M
• Application Number:
  US13/165,740
• Publication Number:
  US 20120002765A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,652 Days
• Field of Search: 329/347, 329/350, 329/304, 329/313, 329/319, 329/321, 329/349, 348/726, 370328-329, 370/335, 370/338, 370/342, 370/401, 370/228, 375/147, 375/152, 375/240.26, 375/260, 375/316, 375/324, 375/340, 375/355, 375/148, 375/150, 375/219, 375/227, 375/239, 375343-346, 375/362, 375/375, 340/10.1, 340/10.4, 340/572.4, 455/63.1, 455/323, 455/337, 455/445, 455/502, 708/404, 708/422, 708/813
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0723 the record carrier comprising an arrangement for non-contact communication, e.g. wireless communication circuits on transponder cards, non-contact smart cards or RFIDs
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0008 General problems related to the reading of electronic memory record carriers, independent of its reading method, e.g. power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13095 PIN / Access code, authentication

Abstract

A method for processing baseband signals according to one embodiment includes receiving I and Q baseband signals; and selectively reducing an amount of samples of the baseband signals to be processed in a correlator, wherein the reduction rate is based on a data rate of the baseband signals. A preintegrator module according to one embodiment includes an automatic gain control section for performing automatic gain control on I and Q baseband signals; a first preintegrator coupled to an output of the automatic gain control section, the first preintegrator being for selectively reducing an amount of samples in the I baseband signal based on a data rate of the I baseband signal; and a second preintegrator coupled to an output of the automatic gain control section, the second preintegrator being for selectively reducing an amount of samples in the Q baseband signal based on a data rate of the Q baseband signal. Additional systems and methods are also presented.

Claims

1. A method for processing baseband signals, the method comprising:

receiving, by a preintegrator, inphase (I) and quadrature (Q) baseband signals; and

selectively reducing an amount of samples of the baseband signals to be processed in a correlator, wherein reducing the amount of samples is based on a data rate of the baseband signals.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein an automatic gain control is performed prior to reducing the amount of samples to reduce a number of bits processed in the reducing step.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the amount of samples is not reduced until a data rate of the baseband signals falls below a threshold.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the amount of samples is reduced by preintegrating input samples by adding a selectable number of the input samples together.

5. A system, comprising:

a preintegrator configured to receive inphase (I) and quadrature (Q) baseband signals, wherein the preintegrator selectively reducing an amount of samples of the baseband signals to be processed in a correlator and wherein reducing the amount of samples is based on a data rate of the received baseband signals.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein an automatic gain control is performed prior to reducing the amount of samples to reduce a number of bits processed by the preintegrator.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the amount of samples is not reduced until a data rate of the baseband signals falls below a threshold.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the selectively reducing the amount of the samples of the baseband signals is configured to reduce the amount of samples by preintegrating input samples by adding a selectable number of the input samples together.

9. The system of claim 5, further comprising at least one antenna for receiving a radio frequency signal from which the baseband signals are derived.

10. A preintegrator module, comprising:

an automatic gain control section for performing automatic gain control on inphase (I) and quadrature (Q) baseband signals;

a first preintegrator coupled to an output of the automatic gain control section, the first preintegrator being for selectively reducing an amount of samples in the I baseband signal based on a data rate of the I baseband signal; and

a second preintegrator coupled to an output of the automatic gain control section, the second preintegrator being for selectively reducing an amount of samples in the Q baseband signal based on a data rate of the Q baseband signal.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the amount of samples is not reduced until a data rate of at least one of the baseband signals falls below a threshold.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the preintegrators each include an adder for adding a selectable number of samples together.

13. The system of claim 10, further comprising at least one antenna for receiving a radio frequency signal from which the baseband signals are derived.