Chirp Communications

• US 20120269232A1
• Filed: 04/19/2012
• Published: 10/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm technologies international, ltd. (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cambridge Silicon Radio Limited (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hiscock, Paul Dominic
• Granted Patent: US 8,718,117 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 375/139
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/713 using frequency hopping
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/10 Frequency-modulated carrier systems, i.e. using frequency-shift keying H04L27/32 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/103 Chirp modulation for spread spectrum techniques H04B1/69

Abstract

A transmitter configured to communicate a data chirp signal to a receiver, the chirp signal comprising at least one symbol, each symbol comprising one or more identical chirps, each symbol having a different gradient to another symbol in the chirp signal, each chirp encoding a symbol value, the transmitter comprising: an address encoding module configured to encode an address associated with the communication via the sequence of gradients of the symbols in the chirp signal; a data encoding module configured to encode data in the chirp signal via the symbol value of each chirp; and a transmitting module configured to transmit the data chirp signal to the receiver.

Claims

1. A transmitter configured to communicate a data chirp signal to a receiver, the chirp signal comprising at least one symbol, each symbol comprising one or more identical chirps, each symbol having a different gradient to another symbol in the chirp signal, each chirp encoding a symbol value, the transmitter comprising:

an address encoding module configured to encode an address associated with the communication via the sequence of gradients of the symbols in the chirp signal;

a data encoding module configured to encode data in the chirp signal via the symbol value of each chirp; and

a transmitting module configured to transmit the data chirp signal to the receiver.

2. A transmitter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the address encoding module is further configured to encode the address associated with the communication via a frequency hopping sequence of the chirp signal.

3. A transmitter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the address associated with the communication is an address of the receiver.

4. A transmitter as claimed in claim 3, further configured to communicate with one or more further receivers, the address encoding module further configured to encode each receiver'"'"'s address via a different sequence of gradients of the symbols in the chirp signal.

5. A transmitter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the address associated with the communication is an address of the transmitter.

6. A receiver configured to receive a data chirp signal from a transmitter, the chirp signal comprising at least one symbol, each symbol comprising one or more identical chirps, each symbol having a different gradient to another symbol in the chirp signal, each chirp encoding a symbol value, the receiver comprising:

a receiving module configured to receive the data chirp signal from the transmitter;

an address decoding module configured to decode an address associated with the communication from the sequence of gradients of the symbols in the chirp signal; and

a data decoding module configured to decode data in the chirp signal from the symbol value of each chirp.

7. A receiver as claimed in claim 6, wherein the address decoding module is further configured to decode the address associated with the communication via a frequency hopping sequence of the chirp signal.

8. A receiver as claimed in claim 6, configured to cease decoding the chirp signal on determining that the sequence of gradients of the symbols in the chirp signal does not match the sequence of gradients of the address associated with the communication.

9. A receiver as claimed in claim 6, wherein the address associated with the communication is an address of the receiver.

10. A receiver as claimed in claim 6, wherein the address associated with the communication is an address of the transmitter.

11. A receiver as claimed in claim 6, further comprising a synchronisation module configured to synchronise the receiver to the data chirp signal using at least one symbol having a gradient of the sequence of gradients encoding the address associated with the communication.

12. A method of communicating a data chirp signal to a receiver, the chirp signal comprising at least one symbol, each symbol comprising one or more identical chirps, each symbol having a different gradient to another symbol in the chirp signal, each chirp encoding a symbol value, the method comprising:

at the transmitter, encoding an address associated with the communication via the sequence of gradients of the symbols in the chirp signal;

at the transmitter, encoding data in the chirp signal via the symbol value of each chirp; and

transmitting the data chirp signal to the receiver.

13. A method as claimed in claim 12, further comprising:

receiving the data chirp signal from the transmitter;

at the receiver, decoding the address associated with the communication from the sequence of gradients of the symbols in the chirp signal; and

at the receiver, decoding data in the chirp signal from the symbol value of each chirp.

14. A method as claimed in claim 13, further comprising ceasing decoding the chirp signal on determining that the sequence of gradients of the symbols in the chirp signal does not match the sequence of gradients of the address associated with the communication.

15. A method as claimed in claim 12, comprising further encoding the address associated with the communication via a frequency hopping sequence of the chirp signal.

16. A method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the address associated with the communication is an address of the receiver.

17. A method as claimed in claim 16, further comprising communicating with one or more further receivers, wherein at the transmitter encoding each receiver'"'"'s address via a different sequence of gradients of the symbols in the chirp signal.

18. A method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the address associated with the communication is an address of the transmitter.

19. A method as claimed in claim 12, wherein each chirp is represented by a sequence of N samples, the N samples being cyclically shiftable such that the symbol value of the chirp is defined by the cyclic phase of the N samples.

20. A method as claimed in claim 13, further comprising synchronising the receiver to the data chirp signal using at least one symbol having a gradient of the sequence of gradients encoding the address associated with the communication.