Fully integrated digital FM discriminator

Claim 2

A digital FM discriminator comprising: (A) a first means for receiving and processing a non-quantized signal that includes a frequency modulated information signal having a phase with an equivalent phase position to determine a coarse phase value and a fine phase value; and (B) a second means responsive to the first means for outputting a demodulated information signal; and wherein the first means and second means are formed integrally in a common substantially non-programmable integrated circuit.

Claim 3

A digital FM discriminator comprising: (A) input means for receiving a frequency modulated information signal sample having a phase; (B) signal processing means for processing the frequency modulated information signal sample from the input to obtain an equivalent phase position determination; (C) coarse phase determining means operably coupled to the signal processing means, for providing a coarse phase component from the equivalent phase position for the sample; (D) fine phase determining means operably coupled to the signal processing means, for providing a fine phase correction factor from the equivalent phase position for the sample; (E) phase recovery means that receives the coarse phase component and the fine phase correction factor for providing a recovered phase value for the sample; and (F) computation means for converting the recovered phase value to a demodulated information signal sample; wherein the input means, signal processing means, coarse phase determining means, fine phase determining means, phase recovery means and computation means are all formed integrally in a common substantially non-programmable integrated circuit.

Claim 4

A digital FM discriminator comprising: (A) input means for receiving a frequency modulated information signal sample having a phase; (B) signal processing means for processing the frequency modulated information signal sample from the input to obtain an equivalent phase position determination; (C) coarse phase determining means operably coupled to the signal processing means, for providing a coarse phase component from the equivalent phase position for the sample; (D) fine phase determining means operably coupled to the signal processing means, for providing a fine phase correction factor from the equivalent phase position for the sample; (E) phase recovery means that receives the coarse phase component and the fine phase correction factor for providing a recovered phase value for the sample; and (F) computation means for converting the recovered phase value to a demodulated information signal sample; wherein the input means, signal processing means, coarse phase determining means, fine phase determining means, phase recovery means and computation means are all formed integrally in a common substantially non-programmable integrated circuit.

Claim 5

A digital FM discriminator as described in claim 2 wherein the input means comprises: sampling means for transforming the frequency modulated information signal sample to at least one set of (I,Q) data word pairs; wherein the input means, sampling means, signal processing means, coarse phase determining means, fine phase determining means, and phase recovery means are all formed integrally in a common substantially non-programmable integrated circuit.

Claim 6

A digital FM discriminator as described in claim 3 wherein the signal processing means comprises: (A) storage means for tabulating at least some of the set of (I,Q) data word pairs; (B) computation means for obtaining difference information as between the data word pairs, absent their respective sign bits; and (C) gating means for selecting from division operations Q/I and I/Q.

Claim 7

A digital FM discriminator as described in claim 3 wherein the coarse phase determining means comprises: (A) phase magnitude determining means for selecting a unit multiple of π/2 radians; and (B) storage means for tabulating said unit multiple of π/2 radians.

Claim 8

A digital FM discriminator as described in claim 3 wherein the fine phase determining means comprises: (A) first storage means for storing a value; (B) second storage means for storing a second value, including subsequent changes due to an aggregation of values determined by subsequent computations of at least one sum/difference information; (C) computation means for obtaining at least one sum/difference information as between the first storage means and the second storage means; (D) third storage means for storing a final aggregation of values determined by computations of sum/difference information; (E) selection means for determining necessity of inversion of the final aggregation of values; (F) manipulation means for inverting the final aggregation of values to obtain an intermediate value; and (G) conversion means for changing the intermediate value to radians.

Claim 13

A digital FM discriminator comprising: (A) a first means for receiving and processing a non-scaled signal that includes a frequency modulated information signal having a phase with an equivalent phase position to determine a coarse phase value and a fine phase value; and (B) a second means responsive to the first means for outputting a demodulated information signal; and wherein the first means and second means are formed integrally in a common substantially non-programmable integrated circuit.

Claim 14

A digital FM discriminator comprising: (A) a first means for receiving and processing a non-scaled signal that includes a frequency modulated information signal having a phase with an equivalent phase position to determine a coarse phase value and a fine phase value; and (B) a second means responsive to the first means for outputting a demodulated information signal; and wherein the first means and second means are formed integrally in a common substantially non-programmable integrated circuit.

Claim 15

A digital FM discriminator as described in claim 9 wherein the non-scaled signal in (A) is also non-quantized.