Phase sector based RF signal acquisition

• US 9,490,944 B2
• Filed: 10/12/2012
• Issued: 11/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InnoVenture L.P.
• Original Assignee: InnoVenture L.P.
• Inventors: Nienaber, David K
• Primary Examiner(s): SHAH, TANMAY K
• Application Number:
  US13/651,259
• Publication Number:
  US 20140105254A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,488 Days
• Field of Search: 375/219
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 23/167 with digital filters
• CPC Class Codes: H03D 1/00 Demodulation of amplitude-modulated oscillations H03D5/00, H03D9/00, H03D11/00 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03D 2200/006 Signal sampling
• CPC Class Codes: H03D 2200/0062 Computation of input samples, e.g. successive samples
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0021 Decimation, i.e. data rate reduction techniques H04B1/0025 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/06 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/0491 with frequency synthesizers, frequency converters or modulators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/08 by repeating transmission, e.g. Verdan system H04L1/1858 and H04L1/189 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/206 for modulated signals

Abstract

Values representative of modulation signal components are extracted from a modulated signal. The modulated signal contains a modulation signal. A local clock signal is developed which correlates in time to the modulated signal and has a plurality of non-overlapping phase sectors per cycle. The modulated signal is accumulated into an accumulated value, separately for at least one phase sector of one cycle of the local clock signal. Each accumulated value is representative of a modulation signal component. The modulated signal accumulated is of an amount representative of the mathematical integral of the modulated signal during each phase sector of the local clock over which the modulated signal is accumulated.

Claims

1. A method for extracting values representative of modulation signal components from a modulated signal, the modulated signal containing a modulation signal, the method comprising:

developing a local clock signal which correlates in time to the modulated signal and has a plurality of non-overlapping phase sectors per cycle and

accumulating the modulated signal into an accumulated value, separately for at least one phase sector of one cycle of the local clock signal, each accumulated value representative of a modulation signal component, the modulated signal accumulated is of an amount representative of the mathematical integral of the modulated signal during each phase sector of the local clock over which the modulated signal is accumulated.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein each accumulated value represents the amount accumulated over one phase sector.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one accumulated value includes amounts accumulated in either polarity, selectively, over multiple phase sectors of one cycle of the local clock.

4. The method of claim 1 further including repeating the accumulating step during multiple cycles of the local clock and wherein at least one accumulated value includes amounts accumulated during multiple cycles of the local clock.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the at least one accumulated value includes amounts accumulated during the same phase sector of multiple cycles of the local clock.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein accumulating the modulated signal into an accumulated value, separately for at least one phase sector of one cycle of the local clock signal includes, for each accumulated value, charging a capacitive device with the modulated signal such that the accumulated charge on the capacitive device is the accumulated value.

7. The method of claim 6 further including for each capacitive device, after a selected number of cycles of the local clock, transferring the accumulated value to an analog to digital converter and reinitializing the capacitive device.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein accumulating the modulated signal into an accumulated value, separately for at least one phase sector of one cycle of the local clock signal includes:

for a first accumulated value, charging a first capacitive device with the modulated signal;

charging an auxiliary capacitive device with the modulated signal during a transitory period between phase sectors;

for a second accumulated value, charging a second capacitive device with the modulated signal; and

transferring the accumulated charge on the auxiliary capacitive device to the second capacitive device while the second capacitive device is charging.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the modulated signal is continuously accumulated over a plurality of cycles of the local clock so that there are no intervals during the plurality of cycles wherein the modulated signal is not accumulated.

10. The method of claim 1 further including selectively combining the accumulated values to obtain at least one modulation signal value representative of the modulation signal.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein selectively combining the accumulated values includes selecting whether to combine any accumulated values, which accumulated values to combine, and whether to add or subtract the accumulated values.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein accumulating the modulated signal includes accumulating the modulated signal by analog means and the accumulated values are analog accumulated values and wherein selectively combining the accumulated values to obtain modulation signal values includes:

selectively combining the analog accumulated values to obtain analog modulation signal values representative of the modulation signal and

digitizing the analog modulation signal values to obtain digital modulation signal values representative of the modulation signal.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein accumulating the modulated signal includes accumulating the modulated signal by analog means and the accumulated values are analog accumulated values and wherein selectively combining the accumulated values to obtain modulation signal values includes:

digitizing the analog accumulated values to obtain digitized accumulated values and

selectively combining the digitized accumulated values to obtain digital modulation signal values representative of the modulation signal.

14. The method of claim 10 further including:

repeating the accumulating and combining steps over multiple cycles of the local clock signal and

selectively combining the resulting modulation signal values to reconstruct the modulation signal.

15. The method of claim 14 further including:

evaluating signal conditions of the reconstructed modulation signal and

altering a manner of selectively combining the resulting modulation signal values based on the signal conditions.

16. The method of claim 10 further including:

repeating the accumulating step over multiple cycles of the local clock signal,

evaluating the resulting accumulated values, and

altering a manner of selectively combining the accumulated values based on the evaluation.

17. The method of claim 10 wherein selectively combining the accumulated values includes selectively combining the accumulated values as directed by an instruction from a programmable control unit.

18. The method of claim 1 further including:

repeating the accumulating step over multiple cycles of the local clock signal,

evaluating the resulting accumulated values, and

altering a manner of developing the local clock signal based on the evaluation.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein altering the manner of developing the local clock signal includes selectively altering the number of phase sectors per cycle, frequency, and phase of the local clock signal.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the accumulated values form in-phase and quadrature signal components.

21. The method of claim 1 further including combining the accumulated values to form in-phase and quadrature signal components.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the modulation signal includes in-phase and quadrature signals;

the plurality of phase sectors per cycle is four phase sectors per cycle;

accumulating the modulated signal includes accumulating the modulated signal, separately during each phase sector of one cycle of the local clock signal, into first, second, third, and fourth accumulated values; and

selectively combining the first, second, third, and fourth values to obtain an in-phase value representative of the in-phase signal and selectively combining the first, second, third, and fourth values to obtain a quadrature value representative of the quadrature signal.

23. The method of claim 22 further including:

combining the first and third values;

combining the second and fourth values;

digitizing the combined first and third values;

digitizing the combined second and fourth values;

wherein combining the first, second, third, and fourth values to obtain the in-phase value includes combining the digitized combined second and fourth values with the digitized combined first and third values; and

wherein combining the first, second, third, and fourth values to obtain the quadrature value includes combining the digitized combined second and fourth values with the digitized combined first and third values.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein:

combining the first and third values includes during the first and third phase sectors of the local clock signal charging a first capacitive device with the modulated signal and

combining the second and fourth values includes during the second and fourth phase sectors of the local clock signal charging a second capacitive device with the modulated signal.

25. The method of claim 22 wherein accumulating the modulated signal includes:

during the first phase sector of the local clock signal, charging a first capacitive device with the modulated signal;

during the second phase sector of the local clock signal, charging a second capacitive device with the modulated signal;

during the third phase sector of the local clock signal, charging a third capacitive device with the modulated signal; and

during the fourth phase sector of the local clock signal, charging a fourth capacitive device with the modulated signal.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the step of accumulating the modulated signal, separately during each phase sector of one cycle of the local clock signal, into first, second, third, and fourth accumulated values is repeated and further including:

between charging the first capacitive device and the second capacitive device, charging one of at least one auxiliary capacitive device with the modulated signal;

transferring the accumulated charge on the charged auxiliary capacitive device to the second capacitive device while the second capacitive device is charging;

between charging the second capacitive device and the third capacitive device, charging one of the auxiliary capacitive devices with the modulated signal;

transferring the accumulated charge on the charged auxiliary capacitive device to the third capacitive device while the third capacitive device is charging;

between charging the third capacitive device and the fourth capacitive device, charging one of the auxiliary capacitive devices with the modulated signal;

transferring the accumulated charge on the charged auxiliary capacitive device to the fourth capacitive device while the fourth capacitive device is charging;

between charging the fourth capacitive device and the first capacitive device, charging one of the auxiliary capacitive devices with the modulated signal; and

transferring the accumulated charge on the charged auxiliary capacitive device to the first capacitive device while the first capacitive device is charging.

27. The method of claim 1 wherein accumulating the modulated signal into an accumulated value includes selectively activating each of a plurality of accumulation blocks, each accumulation block, when activated, accumulating the modulated signal into an accumulated value.

28. The method of claim 1 further including receiving the modulated signal and wherein the modulated signal is a received modulated signal.

29. The method of claim 1 further including:

generating a transmit signal and the modulated signal, as an attenuated version of the transmit signal;

comparing a desired transmission modulation signal to a selectable combination of the accumulated values; and

regulating the generation of the transmit signal and the modulated signal regulated with the comparison between the desired transmission modulation signal and the selectable combination of the accumulated values.

30. The method of claim 1 further including:

in a receive mode, receiving the modulated signal and wherein the modulated signal is a received modulated signal, and

in a transmit mode, generating a transmit signal and the modulated signal, as an attenuated version of the transmit signal, generating the transmit signal and the modulated signal regulated by a comparison between a desired transmission modulation signal and a selectable combination of the accumulated values; and

selectively switching between the transmit and receive modes.

31. The method of claim 30 further including a single digital signal processing system selectively switching between the transmit and receive modes, supplying data to a transmitter to transmit, and obtaining data from a receiver.

32. The method of claim 1 further including:

repeating the accumulating step during multiple cycles of the local clock and

wherein accumulating the modulated signal into an accumulated value includes a switched capacitor filter accumulating the modulated signal over multiple clock cycles.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein the switched capacitor filter is a low pass filter.

34. The method of claim 1 further including:

selectively combining the accumulated values to obtain at least one control signal value representative of a control signal;

repeating the accumulating and combining steps over multiple cycles of the local clock signal;

selectively combining the resulting control signal values to construct a control signal;

evaluating signal conditions of the control signal; and

altering a manner of developing the local clock signal based on the signal conditions.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein altering the manner of developing the local clock signal includes selectively altering the number of phase sectors per cycle, frequency, and phase of the local clock signal.

36. A system for extracting values representative of modulation signal components from a modulated signal, the modulated signal containing a modulation signal, the system comprising:

a timing system configured to develop a local clock signal which correlates in time to the modulated signal, and has a plurality of non-overlapping phase sectors per cycle and

a phase sector accumulator configured to accumulate the modulated signal into an accumulated value, separately for at least one phase sector of one cycle of the local clock signal, each accumulated value representative of a modulation signal component, the modulated signal accumulated is of an amount representative of the mathematical integral of the modulated signal during each phase sector of the local clock over which the modulated signal is accumulated.

37. The system of claim 36 wherein each accumulated value represents the amount accumulated over one phase sector.

38. The system of claim 36 wherein at least one accumulated value includes amounts accumulated in either polarity, selectively, over multiple phase sectors of one cycle of the local clock.

39. The system of claim 36 wherein the phase sector accumulator is further configured to repeat the accumulating step during multiple cycles of the local clock and wherein at least one accumulated value includes amounts accumulated during multiple cycles of the local clock.

40. The system of claim 39 wherein the at least one accumulated value includes amounts accumulated during the same phase sector of multiple cycles of the local clock.

41. The system of claim 36 further including at least one capacitive device and wherein the phase sector accumulator is further configured to, for each accumulated value, charge one of the capacitive devices with the modulated signal such that the accumulated charge on the capacitive device is the accumulated value.

42. The system of claim 41 wherein the phase sector accumulator is further configured to, for each capacitive device, after a selected number of cycles of the local clock, transfer the accumulated value to an analog to digital converter and reinitialize the capacitive device.

43. The system of claim 36 further including:

a first capacitive device

a second capacitive device

an auxiliary capacitive device

wherein the phase sector accumulator is further configured to;

for a first accumulated value, charge the first capacitive device with the modulated signal;

charge the auxiliary capacitive device with the modulated signal during a transitory period between phase sectors;

for a second accumulated value, charge the second capacitive device with the modulated signal; and

transfer the accumulated charge on the auxiliary capacitive device to the second capacitive device while the second capacitive device is charging.

44. The system of claim 36 wherein phase sector accumulator is further configured to continuously accumulate over a plurality of cycles of the local clock so that there are no intervals during the plurality of cycles wherein the modulated signal is not accumulated.

45. The system of claim 36 further including an accumulated value combining system configured to selectively combine the accumulated values to obtain at least one modulation signal value representative of the modulation signal.

46. The system of claim 45 wherein selectively combining the accumulated values includes selecting whether to combine any accumulated values, which accumulated values to combine, and whether to add or subtract the accumulated values.

47. The system of claim 45 wherein the phase sector accumulator is further configured to accumulate the modulated signal by analog means and the accumulated values are analog accumulated values and wherein the accumulated value combining system includes:

analog accumulated value combining circuitry configured to selectively combine the analog accumulated values to obtain analog modulation signal values representative of the modulation signal and

an analog to digital converter configured to digitize the analog modulation signal values to obtain digital modulation signal values representative of the modulation signal.

48. The system of claim 45 wherein the phase sector accumulator is further configured to accumulate the modulated signal by analog means and the accumulated values are analog accumulated values and wherein the accumulated value combining system includes:

an analog to digital converter configured to digitize the analog accumulated values to obtain digitized accumulated values and

a digital accumulated value combining system configured to selectively combine the digitized accumulated values to obtain digital modulation signal values representative of the modulation signal.

49. The system of claim 45 wherein the phase sector accumulator is further configured to repeat the accumulating step over multiple cycles of the local clock and the accumulated value combining system is further configured to repeat the combining step over multiple cycles of the local clock signal and further including a modulation value combining system configured to selectively combine the resulting modulation signal values to reconstruct the modulation signal.

50. The system of claim 49 further including a modulation signal evaluator configured to evaluate signal conditions of the reconstructed modulated signal and wherein the modulation value combining system is further configured to alter a manner of selectively combining the resulting modulation signal values based on the signal conditions.

51. The system of claim 45 wherein the phase sector accumulator is further configured to repeat the accumulating step during multiple cycles of the local clock and further including an accumulation value evaluator configured to evaluate the resulting accumulated values and wherein the accumulated value combining system is further configured to alter a manner of selectively combining the accumulated values based on the evaluation.

52. The system of claim 45 further including a programmable control unit configured to provide instruction to the accumulated value combing system to direct the combining of the accumulated values.

53. The system of claim 36 wherein the phase sector accumulator is further configured to repeat the accumulating step during multiple cycles of the local clock and further including a modulation signal evaluator configured to evaluate the resulting accumulated values and wherein the timing system is further configured to alter a manner of developing the local clock signal based on the evaluation.

54. The system of claim 52 wherein altering the manner of developing the local clock signal includes selectively altering the number of phase sectors per cycle, frequency, and phase of the local clock signal.

55. The system of claim 36 wherein the modulation signal values form in-phase and quadrature signal components.

56. The system of claim 36 wherein the accumulated value combining system is further configured to selectively combine the modulation signal values to form in-phase and quadrature signal components.

57. The system of claim 36 wherein:

the modulation signal includes in-phase and quadrature signals;

the plurality of phase sectors per cycle is four phase sectors per cycle;

the phase sector accumulator is further configured to accumulate the modulated signal, separately during each phase sector of one cycle of the local clock signal, into first, second, third, and fourth accumulated values; and

the accumulated value combining system is further configured to selectively combine the first, second, third, and fourth values to obtain an in-phase value representative of the in-phase signal and selectively combining the first, second, third, and fourth values to obtain a quadrature value representative of the quadrature signal.

58. The system of claim 57 wherein the accumulated value combining system includes:

an alternate value combining system configured to combine the first value with the third value and the second value with the fourth value;

an analog to digital converter system configured to digitize the combined first and third and combined second and fourth values;

a processing system configured to combine the digitized combined first and third values with the digitized combined second and fourth values to obtain an in-phase value representative of the in-phase signal and to combine the digitized combined first and third values with the digitized combined second and fourth values to obtain a quadrature value representative of the quadrature signal.

59. The system of claim 58 wherein the alternate value combining system includes:

a first capacitive device configured to charge during the first and third phase sectors of the local clock signal and

a second capacitive device configured to charge during the second and fourth phase sectors of the local clock signal.

60. The system of claim 57 wherein the phase sector accumulator includes:

a first capacitive device configured to charge during the first phase sector of the local clock signal,

a second capacitive device configured to charge during the second phase sector of the local clock signal,

a third capacitive device configured to charge during the third phase sector of the local clock signal, and

a fourth capacitive device configured to charge during the fourth phase sector of the local clock signal.

61. The system of claim 59 further including at least one auxiliary device and wherein the phase sector accumulator is further configured to:

between charging the first capacitive device and the second capacitive device, charge one of the auxiliary capacitive devices with the modulated signal;

transfer the accumulated charge on the charged auxiliary capacitive device to the second capacitive device while the second capacitive device is charging;

between charging the second capacitive device and the third capacitive device, charge one of the auxiliary capacitive devices with the modulated signal;

transfer the accumulated charge on the charged auxiliary capacitive device to the third capacitive device while the third capacitive device is charging;

between charging the third capacitive device and the fourth capacitive device, charge one of the auxiliary capacitive devices with the modulated signal;

transfer the accumulated charge on the charged auxiliary capacitive device to the fourth capacitive device while the fourth capacitive device is charging;

between charging the fourth capacitive device and the first capacitive device, charge one of the auxiliary capacitive devices with the modulated signal; and

transfer the accumulated charge on the charged auxiliary capacitive device to the first capacitive device while the first capacitive device is charging.

62. The system of claim 36 wherein the phase sector accumulator includes a plurality of accumulation blocks, each accumulation block configured to, when activated, accumulate the modulated signal into an accumulated value and wherein the phase sector accumulator is further configured to selectively activate each accumulation block for accumulation.

63. The system of claim 36 further including an antenna configured to receive the modulated signal and wherein the modulated signal is a received modulated signal.

64. The system of claim 36 further including a transmitter configured to generate a transmit signal and the modulated signal, as an attenuated version of the transmit signal, compare a desired transmission modulation signal to a selectable combination of the accumulated values, and regulate the generation of the transmit signal and the modulated signal regulated with the comparison between the desired transmission modulation signal and the selectable combination of the accumulated values.

65. The system of claim 36 further including:

an antenna configured to receive the modulated signal and wherein the modulated signal is a received modulated signal in a receive mode, and

a transmitter configured to generate a transmit signal and the modulated signal, as an attenuated version of the transmit signal, generating the transmit signal and the modulated signal regulated by a comparison between a desired transmission modulation signal and a selectable combination of the accumulated values, in a transmit mode, and

a transmit/receive mode control configured to switch between the transmit and receive modes.

66. The system of claim 65 further including a single digital signal processing system including the mode control and configured to supply data to the transmitter to transmit and obtain data from the receiver.

67. The system of claim 36 wherein the phase sector accumulator is further configured to repeat the accumulating step during multiple cycles of the local clock and further includes a switched capacitor filter configured to accumulate the modulated signal over multiple clock cycles.

68. The system of claim 67 wherein the switched capacitor filter is a low pass filter.

69. The system of claim 36 wherein the phase sector accumulator is further configured to repeat the accumulating step over multiple cycles of the local clock and further including:

an accumulated value combining system configured to selectively combine the accumulated values to obtain at least one control signal value representative of a control signal and to repeat the combining step over multiple cycles of the local clock signal;

a modulation value combining system configured to selectively combine the resulting control signal values to construct a control signal;

a control signal evaluator configured to evaluate signal conditions of the control signal; and

wherein the timing system is further configured to alter a manner of developing the local clock signal based on the signal conditions.

70. The system of claim 69 wherein altering the manner of developing the local clock signal includes selectively altering the number of phase sectors per cycle, frequency, and phase of the local clock signal.