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US5790607A Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Apparatus and method for recovery of symbol timing for asynchronous data transmission

Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC
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Filing: 1995-11-28
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Granted: 1998-08-04
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Expires: 2015-11-28
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Abstract

Abstract An apparatus and method for recovery of symbol timing for asynchronous data transmission utilizes an RF downconverter (11), an A/D converter (12), and a digital signal processor (14). The digital signal processor (14) includes an error detection block (130), a timing correction block (135), a counter (140), a programmable capture register (145), a clock (150) to produce clock signals, and preferrably a differential detector (155). The error detection block (130) provides information, an error parameter, concerning phase and frequency variances between the clock signal and a transmitted signal. The timing correction block (135) utilizes the error parameter to determine an updated, programmable value stored in the programmable capture register (145). When the counter (140) reaches an instantaneous value equal to the programmable value in the programmable capture register (145), an interrupt signal is generated which adjusts the timing of the clock signal and the clocking of digital samples of the transmitted signal.

Inventors

  • 👤 Timothy M. Burke
  • 👤 Wayne Sanderson

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-10-29 08:24
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04L; H04L7/00; H04L7/02; H04L7/033; H04L7/0334

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 35
Claim 1
Independent Claim 173 words
An apparatus for synchronizing to and recovering data from a signal, the signal transmitted asynchronously over a communications channel to form a transmitted signal, the apparatus comprising: an RF downconverter coupleable to the communications channel to receive the transmitted signal to form a received signal; an analog-digital converter coupled to the RF downconverter to sample the received signal during an interrupt signal to form a digital representation of the received signal; and a digital signal processor coupled to the analog-digital converter, the digital signal processor having a set of program instructions and having a clock generator producing a clock signal, the digital signal processor producing the interrupt signal to the analog-digital converter, the digital signal processor responsive through the set of program instructions to determine an error parameter proportional to a timing variance between the received signal and the clock signal, and the digital signal processor further responsive to modify the timing of the interrupt signal based on the error parameter to synchronize the clock signal to the received signal for data recovery.
Claim 2
Independent Claim 173 words
An apparatus for synchronizing to and recovering data from a signal, the signal transmitted asynchronously over a communications channel to form a transmitted signal, the apparatus comprising: an RF downconverter coupleable to the communications channel to receive the transmitted signal to form a received signal; an analog-digital converter coupled to the RF downconverter to sample the received signal during an interrupt signal to form a digital representation of the received signal; and a digital signal processor coupled to the analog-digital converter, the digital signal processor having a set of program instructions and having a clock generator producing a clock signal, the digital signal processor producing the interrupt signal to the analog-digital converter, the digital signal processor responsive through the set of program instructions to determine an error parameter proportional to a timing variance between the received signal and the clock signal, and the digital signal processor further responsive to modify the timing of the interrupt signal based on the error parameter to synchronize the clock signal to the received signal for data recovery.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 16 words
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the digital signal processor further comprises a differential phase detector.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 40 words
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the digital signal processor further comprises: a counter continuously producing a sequence of values, the sequence of values having an instantaneous value at any time; and a programmable capture register storing a programmable value.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 26 words
The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the digital signal processor is further responsive to produce the interrupt signal when the instantaneous value equals the programmable value.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 33 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the digital signal processor further comprises a phase detector, the phase detector responsive to determine a relative phase difference between the received signal and the clock signal.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 16 words
The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the error parameter is proportional to the relative phase difference.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 152 words
The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the error parameter E n , for each symbol interval, is determined from: E.sub.n =Y.sub.I (r-1/2) Y.sub.I (r)-Y.sub.I (r-1)!+Y.sub.Q (r-1/2) Y.sub.Q (r)-Y.sub.Q (r-1)! in which Y I (r) is a current sample value from the analog-digital converter for an in-phase component, Y Q (r) is a current sample value from the analog-digital converter for a quadrature component, Y I (r-1/2) is a previous sample value one sample interval (half symbol) earlier from the analog-digital converter for the in-phase component, Y Q (r-1/2) is a previous sample value one sample interval (half symbol) earlier from the analog-digital converter for the quadrature component, Y I (r-1) is a previous sample value two sample intervals (full symbol) earlier from the analog-digital converter for the in-phase component, and Y Q (r-1) is a previous sample value two sample intervals (full symbol) earlier from the analog-digital converter for the quadrature component.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 30 words
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the digital signal processor is further responsive to limit a magnitude of the error parameter proportionally to a sampling bandwidth of the analog-digital converter.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 48 words
The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the transmitted signal has a preamble containing timing information, a transition following the preamble and the transmitted signal further has data following the transition, and wherein the sampling bandwidth has a first value during reception of the preamble of the transmitted signal.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 21 words
The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the sampling bandwidth has a second value during reception of data of the transmitted signal.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 17 words
The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the second value has a smaller magnitude than the first value.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim 27 words
The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the sampling bandwidth changes from the first value to the second value upon reception of the transition of the transmitted signal.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim 25 words
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the digital signal processor further comprises a hard limiter which generates a hard limited signal from the received signal.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim 35 words
The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the digital signal processor further comprises a zero crossing detector which generates a zero crossing pulse in response to a zero crossing phase transition of the hard limited signal.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim 28 words
The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the error parameter is proportional to a timing difference between a rising edge of the clock signal and the zero crossing pulse.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim 43 words
The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the transmitted signal further has a symbol rate, the symbol rate having a plurality of harmonics including a first subharmonic, and wherein a sampling rate of the analog-digital converter is the first subharmonic of the symbol rate.
Claim 18
Independent Claim 113 words
A method for synchronizing to and recovering data from a signal, the signal transmitted synchronously over a communications channel to form a transmitted signal, the method comprising: (a) receiving the transmitted signal from the communications channel to form a received signal; (b) sampling the received signal, in response to an interrupt signal, to form a sampled signal; (c) converting the sampled signal to a digital representation of the sampled signal; (d) determining an error parameter, the error parameter proportional to a timing variance between the received signal and a generated clock signal; (e) modifying the timing of the interrupt signal to synchronize the generated clock signal to the received signal for data recovery.
Claim 19
Independent Claim 113 words
A method for synchronizing to and recovering data from a signal, the signal transmitted synchronously over a communications channel to form a transmitted signal, the method comprising: (a) receiving the transmitted signal from the communications channel to form a received signal; (b) sampling the received signal, in response to an interrupt signal, to form a sampled signal; (c) converting the sampled signal to a digital representation of the sampled signal; (d) determining an error parameter, the error parameter proportional to a timing variance between the received signal and a generated clock signal; (e) modifying the timing of the interrupt signal to synchronize the generated clock signal to the received signal for data recovery.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim 16 words
The method of claim 17, further comprising: (f) differentially detecting a phase difference for data recovery.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim 51 words
The method of claim 17, wherein step (e) further comprises: (e1) continuously producing a sequence of values, the sequence of values having an instantaneous value at any time; (e2) generating a programmable value stored in a register; and (e3) producing the interrupt signal when the instantaneous value equals the programmable value.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim 36 words
The method of claim 17, wherein step (d) further comprises: (d1) determining a relative phase difference between the received signal and the clock signal; and (d2) forming the error parameter proportionally to the relative phase difference.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim 137 words
The method of claim 17 wherein step (d), determining the error parameter E n , for each symbol interval, is determined from: E.sub.n =Y.sub.I (r-1/2) Y.sub.I (r)-Y.sub.I (r-1)!+Y.sub.Q (r-1/2) Y.sub.Q (r)-Y.sub.Q (r-1)! in which Y I (r) is a current digital sample value for an in-phase component, Y Q (r) is a current digital sample value for a quadrature component, Y I (r-1/2) is a previous digital sample value one sample interval (half symbol) earlier for the in-phase component, Y Q (r-1/2) is a previous digital sample value one sample interval (half symbol) earlier for the quadrature component, Y I (r-1) is a previous digital sample value two sample intervals (full symbol) earlier for the in-phase component, and Y Q (r-1) is a previous digital sample value two sample intervals (full symbol) earlier for the quadrature component.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim 20 words
The method of claim 17, further comprising: (g) limiting a magnitude of the error parameter proportionally to a sampling bandwidth.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim 51 words
The method of claim 22, wherein the transmitted signal has a preamble containing timing information, a transition following the preamble and the transmitted signal further has data following the transition, and wherein the sampling bandwidth has a first value during reception of the preamble of the transmitted signal in step (a).
Claim 26
Dependent Claim 24 words
The method of claim 23, wherein the sampling bandwidth has a second value during reception of data of the transmitted signal in step (a).
Claim 27
Dependent Claim 17 words
The method of claim 24 wherein the second value has a smaller magnitude than the first value.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim 28 words
The method of claim 24, further comprising changing the sampling bandwidth from the first value to the second value upon reception of the transition of the transmitted signal.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim 65 words
The method of claim 17, further comprising: (h) hard limiting the received signal to form a hard limited signal; (i) generating a zero crossing pulse in response to a zero crossing phase transition of the hard limited signal; and j) producing the error parameter, the error parameter proportional to a timing difference between a rising edge of the clock signal and the zero crossing pulse.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim 44 words
The method of claim 27, wherein the transmitted signal further has a symbol rate, the symbol rate having a plurality of harmonics including a first subharmonic, and wherein a sampling rate of the sampling step (b) is the first subharmonic of the symbol rate.
Claim 31
Independent Claim 271 words
An apparatus for synchronizing to and recovering data from a signal, the signal transmitted over a communications channel to form a transmitted signal, the transmitted signal having a preamble containing timing information, a transition following the preamble and the transmitted signal further having data following the transition, the apparatus coupleable to the communications channel for the reception of the asynchronous transmitted signal, the apparatus comprising: an RF downconverter to receive the transmitted signal to form a received signal and to convert the received signal to a baseband frequency; an analog-digital converter coupled to the RF downconverter to sample the received signal during an interrupt signal to form a digital representation of the received signal; and a digital signal processor coupled to the analog-digital converter, the digital signal processor having a set of program instructions and having a clock generator producing a clock signal, the digital signal processor producing the interrupt signal to the analog-digital converter, the digital signal processor responsive through the set of program instructions to determine an error parameter proportional to a timing variance between the received signal and the clock signal and to modify the timing of the interrupt based on the error parameter to synchronize the clock signal to the received signal, the digital signal processor further comprising a counter continuously producing a sequence of values, the sequence of values having an instantaneous value at any time, a programmable capture register storing a programmable value, and the digital signal processor further responsive to produce the interrupt signal when the instantaneous value equals the programmable value to synchronize the clock signal to the received signal for data recovery.
Claim 32
Independent Claim 271 words
An apparatus for synchronizing to and recovering data from a signal, the signal transmitted over a communications channel to form a transmitted signal, the transmitted signal having a preamble containing timing information, a transition following the preamble and the transmitted signal further having data following the transition, the apparatus coupleable to the communications channel for the reception of the asynchronous transmitted signal, the apparatus comprising: an RF downconverter to receive the transmitted signal to form a received signal and to convert the received signal to a baseband frequency; an analog-digital converter coupled to the RF downconverter to sample the received signal during an interrupt signal to form a digital representation of the received signal; and a digital signal processor coupled to the analog-digital converter, the digital signal processor having a set of program instructions and having a clock generator producing a clock signal, the digital signal processor producing the interrupt signal to the analog-digital converter, the digital signal processor responsive through the set of program instructions to determine an error parameter proportional to a timing variance between the received signal and the clock signal and to modify the timing of the interrupt based on the error parameter to synchronize the clock signal to the received signal, the digital signal processor further comprising a counter continuously producing a sequence of values, the sequence of values having an instantaneous value at any time, a programmable capture register storing a programmable value, and the digital signal processor further responsive to produce the interrupt signal when the instantaneous value equals the programmable value to synchronize the clock signal to the received signal for data recovery.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim 51 words
The apparatus of claim 29 wherein the digital signal processor further comprises a differential phase detector responsive to determine a relative phase difference between the received signal and the clock signal, and wherein the digital signal processor is further responsive to generate the error parameter proportionally to the relative phase difference.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim 87 words
The apparatus of claim 29 wherein the digital signal processor is further responsive to limit the magnitude of the error parameter proportionally to a sampling bandwidth of the analog-digital converter, the sampling bandwidth having a first value during reception of the preamble of the transmitted signal and the sampling bandwidth having a second value during reception of the transition of the transmitted signal, and wherein the sampling bandwidth changes from the first value to the second value upon reception of the transition portion of the transmitted signal.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim 81 words
The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the digital signal processor further comprises: a hard limiter which generates a hard limited signal from the received signal; a zero crossing detector which generates a zero crossing pulse in response to a zero crossing phase transition of the hard limited signal; and wherein the digital signal processor is further responsive to generate the error parameter in proportional to a timing difference between a rising edge of the clock signal and the zero crossing pulse.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

US5001727A Cited
US5164965A Cited
US5572558A Cited

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