Method and apparatus for determining signal transmission quality levels of a transmitted signal

Claim 3

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said received-signal strength level value formed by the means for measuring is of a value directly proportional to an amplitude of the received signal representative of the information signal transmitted between the transmitter and the receiver.

Claim 4

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said interference level value formed by the means for determining bit error is representative of the number of bit errors of the encoded data comprising the sequences of the information signal determined after decoding of the encoded data.

Claim 5

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the display element comprises a liquid crystal display having the display portions and wherein the signal transmission quality level value determines which portions of the display element turn on.

Claim 6

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the interference number is determined by subtracting the interference level value from the number one.

Claim 7

The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the interference level value is scaled by another scale factor before subtracting.

Claim 8

A radio receiver operative to receive modulated signals formed of information bearing communications signals modulated upon a wireless carrier wave and transmitted thereto by a transmitter, said radio receiver comprising: means for detecting the modulated signal transmitted by the transmitter and for generating an electrical signal indicative of the modulated signal; means for measuring signal level magnitudes of the electrical signal indicative of the modulated signal detected by said means for detecting to form a received-signal strength value; means for determining bit errors introduced upon the modulated signal during transmission thereto to form an interference level value; means for, when the levels of interference indicate no bit errors, scaling the received-signal strength value formed by the means for measuring by a scale factor to provide a signal transmission quality level value representative of quality levels of signal transmission of the modulated signal transmitted by the transmitter and, when the levels of interference indicate bit errors, for mutiplying the received-signal strength value by an interference number less than one to produce a producer and scaling the product by a scale factor to provide the signal transmission quality level value; and a display element operatively coupled to the means for multiplying and scaling for displaying in human perceptible form the signal transmission quality level value formed by said means for multiplying and scaling.

Claim 9

A radio receiver operative to receive modulated signals formed of information bearing communications signals modulated upon a wireless carrier wave and transmitted thereto by a transmitter, said radio receiver comprising: means for detecting the modulated signal transmitted by the transmitter and for generating an electrical signal indicative of the modulated signal; means for measuring signal level magnitudes of the electrical signal indicative of the modulated signal detected by said means for detecting to form a received-signal strength value; means for determining bit errors introduced upon the modulated signal during transmission thereto to form an interference level value; means for, when the levels of interference indicate no bit errors, scaling the received-signal strength value formed by the means for measuring by a scale factor to provide a signal transmission quality level value representative of quality levels of signal transmission of the modulated signal transmitted by the transmitter and, when the levels of interference indicate bit errors, for mutiplying the received-signal strength value by an interference number less than one to produce a producer and scaling the product by a scale factor to provide the signal transmission quality level value; and a display element operatively coupled to the means for multiplying and scaling for displaying in human perceptible form the signal transmission quality level value formed by said means for multiplying and scaling.

Claim 10

The radio receiver of claim 7 wherein the display element comprises display portions and wherein the signal transmission quality level value determines which portions of the display element turn on.

Claim 11

The radio receiver of claim 7 wherein the interference number is determined by subtracting the interference level value from the number one.

Claim 12

The radio receiver of claim 9 wherein the interference level value is scaled by another scale factor before subtracting.

Claim 13

In a radio transceiver having transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry, the receiver circuitry being operative to receive a wireless information bearing communications signal transmitted thereto by a remotely-positioned transmitter, a combination with the receiver circuitry of apparatus for determining transmission quality levels of the communications signal transmitted by the remotely-positioned transmitter, said apparatus comprising: means for measuring signal level magnitudes of the signal transmitted by the remotely-positioned transmitter and the receiver circuitry to form a received-signal strength value; means for determining bit errors introduced upon the communications signal transmitted by the remotely-positioned transmitter to the receiver circuitry to form an interference level value; means for, when the levels of interference indicate no bit errors, scaling the received-signal strength value formed by said means for measuring by a scale factor to provide a signal transmission quality level value representative of quality levels of the signal transmission between the remotely-positioned transmitter and the receiver circuitry and, when the levels of interference indicate bit errors, for mutiplying the received-signal strength value by an interference number less than one to produce a product and scaling the product by a scale factor to provide the signal transmission quality level value; and a display element operatively coupled to the means for multiplying and scaling for displaying in human perceptible form the signal transmission quality level value formed by said means for multiplying and scaling.

Claim 14

In a radio transceiver having transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry, the receiver circuitry being operative to receive a wireless information bearing communications signal transmitted thereto by a remotely-positioned transmitter, a combination with the receiver circuitry of apparatus for determining transmission quality levels of the communications signal transmitted by the remotely-positioned transmitter, said apparatus comprising: means for measuring signal level magnitudes of the signal transmitted by the remotely-positioned transmitter and the receiver circuitry to form a received-signal strength value; means for determining bit errors introduced upon the communications signal transmitted by the remotely-positioned transmitter to the receiver circuitry to form an interference level value; means for, when the levels of interference indicate no bit errors, scaling the received-signal strength value formed by said means for measuring by a scale factor to provide a signal transmission quality level value representative of quality levels of the signal transmission between the remotely-positioned transmitter and the receiver circuitry and, when the levels of interference indicate bit errors, for mutiplying the received-signal strength value by an interference number less than one to produce a product and scaling the product by a scale factor to provide the signal transmission quality level value; and a display element operatively coupled to the means for multiplying and scaling for displaying in human perceptible form the signal transmission quality level value formed by said means for multiplying and scaling.

Claim 15

The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the display element comprises a liquid crystal display having display portions and wherein the signal transmission quality level value determines which portions of the display element turn on.

Claim 16

The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the interference number is determined by subtracting the interference level value from the number one.

Claim 17

The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the interference level value is scaled by another scale factor before subtracting.

Claim 20

The method of claim 15 wherein the interference number is determined by subtracting the interference level value from the number one.

Claim 21

The method of claim 16 wherein the interference level value is scaled by another scale factor before subtracting.