Transmitter IC for single-channel Bluetooth beacon

• US 9,974,050 B2
• Filed: 12/16/2015
• Issued: 05/15/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verily Life Sciences LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verily Life Sciences LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Wiser, Robert Francis, Pletcher, Nathan, Biederman, William James, Yeager, Daniel James, Otis, Brian, Honore, Francis Albert, Sankaragomathi, Kannan Aryaperumal
• Primary Examiner(s): O CONNOR, BRIAN T
• Application Number:
  US14/971,734
• Publication Number:
  US 20170181125A1
• Time in Patent Office: 881 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/02 Modifications of amplifiers to raise the efficiency, e.g. gliding Class A stages, use of an auxiliary oscillation
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/24 of transmitter output stages
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/04 Circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/045 with means for improving efficiency
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/12 Modulator circuits; Transmitter circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/305 Self-monitoring or self-testing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/00 Power management, e.g. TPC [Transmission Power Control], power saving or power classes gain control in transmitters or power amplifiers H03G3/3042
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/02 Power saving arrangements in wired systems H04L12/12; signaling of mobile application services, e.g. low battery notifications H04W4/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0216 using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0219 where the power saving management affects multiple terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0229 where the received signal is a wanted signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/30 Resource management for broadcast services
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Methods and systems described herein relate to broadcasting an advertisement event on a wireless channel. An example method includes generating, based on data, a data signal including one or more data packets, where each of the one or more data packets is a non-connectable and non-scannable data packet; generating an RF signal using an oscillator circuit; directly modulating the RF signal, based on the data signal, to generate a modulated RF signal; amplifying the modulated RF signal; broadcasting the amplified modulated RF signal on the wireless channel, where the amplified modulated RF signal is associated with the advertisement event.

Claims

1. A method of broadcasting an advertisement event on a wireless channel, the method comprising:

an oscillator circuit generating an RF signal;

a prescaler generating a clock signal based on the RF signal;

a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) packetizer using the clock signal to generate a data signal comprising one or more data packets, wherein each of the one or more data packets is a non-connectable data packet;

directly modulating the RF signal, based on the data signal, to generate a modulated RF signal;

amplifying the modulated RF signal;

broadcasting the amplified modulated RF signal on the wireless channel, wherein the amplified modulated RF signal is associated with the advertisement event.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more data packets are based on a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) protocol.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the oscillator circuit is a Pierce oscillator circuit.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the wherein the oscillator circuit comprises a thin-film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR).

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a frequency of the wireless channel is one or more of the following frequencies:

2.402, 2.426, and 2.48 GHz.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the modulated RF signal comprises a first frequency and a second frequency, wherein the first frequency and the second frequency are within a bandwidth of the wireless channel.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein directly modulating the RF signal comprises modulating the RF signal using Gaussian Frequency Shift Keying (GFSK).

8. The method of claim 1, wherein directly modulating the RF signal, based on the data signal, to generate the modulated RF signal comprises using the data signal to control a capacitor bank coupled to the oscillating circuit.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement event is broadcasted periodically.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the clock signal is a scaled version of the RF signal.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the clock signal is a scaled version of the modulated RF signal.

12. A broadcasting unit comprising:

an oscillator configured to generate an RF signal;

a prescaler configured to generate a clock signal based on the RF signal;

a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) packetizer configured to use the clock signal to generate a data signal comprising one or more data packets, wherein each of the one or more data packets is a non-connectable data packet, and wherein the RF signal is directly modulated based on the data signal to generate a modulated RF signal;

a power amplifier configured to amplify the modulated RF signal; and

an antenna configured to broadcast the amplified modulated RF signal in a wireless channel as an advertisement event.

13. The broadcasting device of claim 12, wherein the oscillator circuit comprises a thin-film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR).

14. The broadcasting device of claim 12, wherein the one or more data packets are based on a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) protocol.

15. The broadcasting device of claim 12, wherein the oscillator circuit is a Pierce oscillator circuit.

16. The broadcasting device of claim 12, wherein the modulated RF signal comprises a first frequency and a second frequency, wherein the first frequency and the second frequency are within a bandwidth of a wireless channel.

17. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

an oscillator, comprising an FBAR resonator, configured to generate an RF signal;

a prescaler generating a clock signal based on the RF signal;

a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) packetizer configured to;

receive data from the one or more processors;

use the clock signal to generate a data signal comprising one or more data packets, wherein each of the one or more data packets is a non-connectable data packet wherein the RF signal is directly modulated based on the data signal to generate a modulated RF signal;

a power amplifier configured to amplify the modulated RF signal; and

an antenna configured to broadcast the amplified modulated RF signal in a wireless channel as an advertisement event.

18. The system of claim 17 further comprising a sensor, wherein the data is based on an output of the sensor.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more data packets are based on a BLE protocol.