With Control (e.g., Automatic Gain Control) Patents (Class 455/138)
  • Patent number: 7474883
    Abstract: A receiver in a radio communication system and method for optimizing a use of an available dynamic range. The receiver has an automatic gain controller in an automatic gain control loop, a first measuring device, connected to the automatic gain controller, operable to measure a total received energy, a second measuring device, connected to the automatic gain controller, operable to measure the inband signal energy, wherein the automatic gain controller is operable to adjust the gain based on both the total received energy and the inband signal energy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2009
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventor: Mikael Rudberg
  • Patent number: 7469134
    Abstract: In order to avoid disappearance of output symbols in accompaniment with DC voltage fluctuations occurring at the timing of switching gain in receiving systems for mobile telephones or the like compatible with W-CDMA systems, the present invention provides a variable gain amplifier circuit, a gain control circuit and a mobile communication terminal apparatus, in which a PGA section is comprised of PGAs having different amplification widths continuously arranged in plural stages as in, two coarse adjustment PGAs, a fine adjustment PGA and a coarse adjustment PGA from the input side to the output side; and a gain control circuit has a memory storing a history of gain control with regard to the PGA section and a logic circuit individually controlling gain of each PGA.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2008
    Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Japan, Inc.
    Inventors: Atsushi Yoshizawa, Masahisa Tamura
  • Publication number: 20080293368
    Abstract: A wireless device includes at least one antenna, a plurality of shared signal path components coupled to the at least one antenna, the plurality of shared signal path components including a shared adjustable gain element, e.g., Low Noise Amplifier (LNA), Power Amplifier (PA), etc., a first wireless interface, e.g. Wireless Local Area Network interface coupled to the plurality of shared signal path components, and a second wireless interface, e.g., Wireless Personal Area Network interface, coupled to the plurality of shared signal path components. During a first operational period, the first wireless interface controls gain of the shared adjustable gain element and during a second operational period that differs from the first operational period, the second wireless network interface controls gain of the shared adjustable gain element. With another embodiment the first wireless interface and/or the second wireless interface each includes shared adjustable gain elements for transmit and receive diversity.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 22, 2007
    Publication date: November 27, 2008
    Applicant: Broadcom Corporation, a California Corporation
    Inventors: Prasanna Desai, Mark Gonikberg, Brima B. Ibrahim, Luis Gutierrez, Sreenivas Karanam, Thomas Varghese
  • Patent number: 7450533
    Abstract: A wireless transmitting device includes a first and a second antennas, a first and a second transmitters connected to the first and the second antenna, respectively, signal provide unit provide a short preamble sequence, a first and a second signal fields to the first transmitter, and provide an AGC preamble sequence, a data and a long-preamble sequence to estimate a channel response to the first and the second transmitters, and a controller to power on the transmitters at different timings, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 11, 2008
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Tsuguhide Aoki, Ichiro Seto, Kazumi Sato
  • Patent number: 7450670
    Abstract: An improved AGC subsystem for preferred use in quadrature amplitude modulation receivers offers improved automatic gain control of received signals in fading channels by generating an error signal only from constellation signal points having large signal-to-noise ratios for increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the gain control error signal for lowering dispersion of symbol signals in the constellation signal space for improving data detection of symbol signals with the improved performance with as much as one dB in the signal-to-noise ratio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 11, 2008
    Assignee: The Aerospace Corporation
    Inventors: Gee L. Lui, Kuang Tsai, Milton K. Sue
  • Patent number: 7436793
    Abstract: A system and method for effectively performing a transmit power adjustment procedure in a wireless network includes a forward receiver that monitors a wireless forward link for forward data that is transmitted over the wireless forward link by a forward transmitter. The forward transmitter initially transmits the forward data at a minimum power level, and gradually increases the minimum power level to a power level threshold at which the forward receiver first detects the forward data on the forward link. Once the forward receiver and the forward transmitter are successfully coupled over the wireless forward link, the forward transmitter may then transmit forward data at a normal operating power level. The foregoing transmit power adjustment procedure ensures that the forward receiver receives forward data only from the forward transmitter, and prevents other proximate wireless devices from inadvertently intercepting forward data transmitted by the forward receiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2008
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Sony Electronics Inc.
    Inventor: Christopher J. Read
  • Patent number: 7430403
    Abstract: A hysteresis control method for a control system includes setting an arbitrary reference value for an existing position of a control width and calculating a difference between a present input value and the arbitrary reference value. A direction of increase/decrease from a control value and an input value variation width are calculated. A control value is calculated for the present input value time from the calculated input value variation width and the calculated direction of increase/decrease.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2008
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Shoichi Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 7426376
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a semiconductor package, a radio receiver and a processor. The radio receiver is located in the semiconductor package and includes at least one gain stage. The processor is located in the semiconductor package to execute stored instructions to control the gain stage(s).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2008
    Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.
    Inventors: Vishnu S. Srinivasan, G. Tyson Tuttle, Dan B. Kasha, Alessandro Piovaccari
  • Patent number: 7406300
    Abstract: A wireless communication system includes at least one repeater antenna assembly for providing adequate RF coverage within a building, such as a home. An example repeater antenna assembly has an automatically adjustable gain that is controlled responsive to a pathloss associated with a received signal to avoid base station transceiver desensitization and positive feedback. A disclosed assembly avoids base station desensitization and positive feedback. Another disclosed technique maintains a selected minimum link budget within the building.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2008
    Assignee: Lucent Technologies Inc.
    Inventor: Victor Pan
  • Patent number: 7400867
    Abstract: A radio broadcast receiver is provided which reduces the degradation in quality of diversity-received signals. When a difference in level between a reception signal of a main antenna and a reception signal of a sub antenna is less than a predetermined threshold value, and when a difference in phase between the reception signal of the main antenna and the reception signal of the sub antenna exceeds another predetermined threshold value, a combination ratio of a combiner for combining outputs of a main tuner and of a sub tuner is set to 1:1, where in-phase combination type diversity is carried out. In other cases, the combination ratio of the combiner is switched between 1:0 and 0:1 depending on the occurrence of a multipath, where selection diversity is carried out.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2008
    Assignee: Alpine Electronics, Inc.
    Inventor: Yoshitsugu Gamo
  • Patent number: 7398066
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for recovering a data symbol from a communication signal in which the communication signal is processed to produce a baseband waveform that is then sampled to obtain a channel sequence. The channel sequence is decoded to obtain an estimate of the data symbol together with a measure of the reliability of the data symbol. The processing of the communication signal is adjusted dependent upon the measure of the reliability of the data symbol. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2008
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics, Inc.
    Inventor: Gregory Proehl
  • Patent number: 7398070
    Abstract: A variable gain amplifying circuit includes a gate-grounded amplifying FET and a collector-grounded amplifying transistor. A gate voltage of the FET and a base voltage of the transistor are adjusted by a supplied AGC voltage. When an input RF signal has small amplitude, the gate voltage is increased by a high AGC voltage so as to increase a main current of the FET, thereby increasing a signal gain of the FET. When the input RF signal has large or medium amplitude, the gate voltage is decreased by a low AGC voltage so as to decrease a main current of the FET, thereby decreasing the signal gain of the FET.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2008
    Assignee: Alps Electronic Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Masaki Yamamoto, Masaaki Endo
  • Patent number: 7394796
    Abstract: A Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) infrastructure includes a wired backbone network, an air controller, and a plurality of wireless access points (WAPs). Each WAP includes a processor, a wired backbone interface, a first radio, a directional antenna, a second radio, and an antenna. The first radio and directional antenna service wireless terminals. The second radio and the antenna collect non-participatory WAP data. The first radio and directional antenna optionally collect participatory WAP data. Based upon the non-participatory WAP data (and optionally the participatory WAP data), the processor creates WAP operational reports and provides the WAPs operational reports to the air controller. The air controller creates directions based thereon and directs one or more of the WAPs to alter the gain pattern(s) of the directional antenna(s), alter the transmit power(s) of the first radio(s), and/or to alter the channel usage of the first radio(s).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2003
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2008
    Assignee: Broadcom Corporation
    Inventors: Jeffrey L. Thermond, Richard G. Martin, Jeff Abramowitz, Stephen Palm
  • Patent number: 7386285
    Abstract: An AGC circuit controls LNA and VGA amplifiers such that a received signal is converted at a high speed with tracking errors prevented according to each modulation scheme. The AGC circuit generates LNA and VGA control signals controlling the LNA and VGA amplifiers, respectively. A digital signal, converted from the received signal, is calculated for a power value, on which scaling is performed by a scaling section to then be provided through an adder and a register to a control signal generator for generating the LNA and VGA control signals. The scaling section compares the power value with a target value to perform scaling with a scaling coefficient according to the sign of the comparison value so that an increase of the tracking error is avoided, thus preventing phenomena where the AGC control oscillates without convergence, thereby making it possible to attain the optimum automatic gain control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2008
    Assignee: Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Shigeki Yamauchi
  • Patent number: 7369834
    Abstract: An impedance-matched IQ network includes a phase shift circuit and a back termination. The phase shift circuit includes an in-phase mixer port for receiving the in-phase signal, a quadrature-phase mixer port for receiving the quadrature phase signal, a termination port, and an output port. The back termination is coupled to the termination port of the phase shift circuit, the back termination having an impedance value substantially equal to the characteristic impedance of the phase shift circuit at the termination port.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2008
    Assignee: RF Magic, Inc.
    Inventor: Keith P. Bargroff
  • Patent number: 7356110
    Abstract: The method is applicable to a receiver (1) of signals corresponding to packets of digital data transmitted in bursts, which comprises an analogue pickup subassembly (3) connected to a digital processing subassembly (8) by means for converting analogue signals into digital signals (7). Gain adjustment means (5) act on the amplification means (5) in order to alter the power of signals supplied to the conversion means. The method provides a preadjustment of the gain, in the absence of a burst, for detecting the arrival of signals even if they are weak, and an adjustment of the gain as a function of a power value of the signal determined from burst start symbols, as obtained after conversion. This adjustment is dependent on the recognition of symbols scheduled at the start of a burst, it is carried out during a time scheduled for a symbol otherwise left unexploited by the method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2008
    Assignee: Thomson Licensing
    Inventors: Patrick Lopez, Thomas Schwanenberger, Samuel Guillouard
  • Patent number: 7349709
    Abstract: A WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) transmission technique is provided where data is transmitted in two or more different transmission modes at different transmission rates. A transmission gain is determined to be applied when transmitting data. The transmission gain is determined to be transmission mode dependent such that the transmission gain in a first transmission mode is greater than the transmission gain in a second transmission mode if the transmission rate in the first transmission mode is lower than the transmission rate in the second transmission mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2008
    Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas Hanusch, Sascha Beyer, Michael Schmidt
  • Patent number: 7339987
    Abstract: The invention relates to a device for correcting a receiver signal which is associated with an emission signal transmitted in a distorted transmission system. The emission signal comprises periods which can be determined by analyzing the received signal wherein determined properties are exhibited which are suitable for adjusting the correction. According to one embodiment, the device comprises a component for adjusting the correction based upon an analysis of the received signal and a component for monitoring and enabling the adjusting component when the received signal associated with the transmission signal exhibits certain characteristics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2008
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Lajos Gazsi, Matthias Schoebinger
  • Patent number: 7333462
    Abstract: A wireless terminal operates within a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) and includes a directional antenna, a radio frequency unit operably coupled to the directional antenna, and a processor operably coupled to the radio frequency unit. The processor controls the operation of the wireless terminal to operate within the WLAN to assist in WLAN service management. In its operations, the wireless terminal listens to a plurality of beacons transmitted by a corresponding plurality of Wireless Access Points (WAPs) of the WLAN. The wireless terminal then characterizes the plurality of beacons with regard to signal quality. Based upon the characterization, the wireless terminal selects a desired WAP of the plurality of WAPs. The wireless terminal then associates with the desired WAP of the plurality of WAPs. Finally, the wireless terminal adjusts a gain vector of a servicing antenna of the wireless terminal so that it is substantially directed toward the desired WAP of the plurality of WAPs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Broadcom Corporation
    Inventors: Stephen Palm, Jeffrey L. Thermond
  • Patent number: 7302241
    Abstract: A wireless communication unit (300) incorporates a receiver comprising radio frequency circuitry (210, 220, 230, 240) for receiving a radio frequency signal and converting the radio frequency signal to a low frequency signal. A signal level adjustment circuit receives the low frequency signal and an analogue to digital converter (370), operably coupled to the signal level adjustment circuit receives an adjusted low frequency signal and providing a digital received signal. A signal processor (108) operably coupled to the analogue to digital converter (370) processes the digital received signal. The signal level adjustment circuit includes a low frequency amplifier (360) whose gain is arranged to be dependent upon a clip point of the analogue to digital converter (370).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2007
    Assignee: Motorola, Inc.
    Inventor: Matthias Koenig
  • Patent number: 7286795
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and method for terrestrial transmission of RF signals comprising: an antenna, where said antenna includes an active device and a passive device and a decoder. The passive device receives RF signals and passes the signals to the active device. The active device includes at least one amplifier, where active device down converts the RF signals to IF signals and applies a gain to at least one of the RF signals and the IF signals. The decoder connects to the antenna, where decoder receives and analyzes the IF signals from said antenna and upon receipt of the IF signals sends commands to the active device in order to maintain an acceptable IF signal, where said commands instruct the active device to selectively adjust the gain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2003
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2007
    Assignee: MDS America, Inc.
    Inventor: Jean-Claude Ducasse
  • Patent number: 7277679
    Abstract: Methods and apparatuses, including computer program products, for spatial processing in a remote terminal unit. One embodiment is a wireless remote terminal receiver in a wireless terminal unit for operation in a wireless communication system. The wireless remote terminal receiver includes an antenna array, and a receive processing unit to process signals received by the antenna array by applying a selected spatial processing mode of a plurality of spatial processing modes. The modes include one or more modes of one or more spatial processing methods. The receiver also includes a selector to select the spatial processing mode from the plurality of spatial processing modes. The selecting includes selecting the spatial processing method in the case that the set of spatial processing modes are of more than one spatial processing method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2007
    Assignee: Arraycomm, LLC
    Inventors: Craig H. Barratt, Athanasios A. Kasapi
  • Patent number: 7257383
    Abstract: The receiver is provided which comprises a mixer, a low pass filter coupled to the mixer and a plurality of gain controllers serially coupled to an output of the low pass filter (LPF). A plurality of analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) is coupled so that an input of a first of the ADCs is coupled to the output of the LPF. An input of each of a remaining portion of the ADCs is individually coupled to a corresponding output of each of the serially coupled gain blocks. An output path traced from the output of the LPF to an output of each of the analog-to-digital converters may be referred to as a processing path. Each processing path may comprise a gain controller and an ADC, except for the first processing path, which may have an ADC coupled directly to the output of the LPF.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2007
    Assignee: Broadcom Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher Young, Tushar Moorti
  • Patent number: 7236743
    Abstract: In a method for interference suppression using a quality-adjustable bandpass filter in a receiver circuit for carrier-modulated received signals (SIN), the bandpass filtered received signal (Bout) is demodulated, and a switching process is triggered with the demodulated received signal (Dout). In order to eliminate internal or self-induced interferences that would be caused by a switching process in the output portion of the receiver, a quality reduction of the bandpass filter is correlated with the switching process that causes the interference. The method is especially suitable in connection with circuits for infrared receivers, which can thereby be manufactured in a small size, without external components, and thus economically.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2001
    Date of Patent: June 26, 2007
    Assignees: Vishay Semiconductor GmbH, Atmel Germany GmbH, Melexis GmbH
    Inventors: Matthias Eichin, Alexander Kurz, Karl-Ulrich Stahl
  • Patent number: 7194049
    Abstract: A digital automatic level control system employs delay elements, which enable information about a signal parameter from the past, present and future to be processed to provide an optimal gain that can be used to level rapidly varying signals, such as bursty signals. As digital time samples of a signal are passed through first and second buffers, first and second accumulators maintain running sums that are related to the sum of the samples presently in the first and second buffers, respectively. The sums in the first and second accumulators represent information about the signal parameter for the future and the past, respectively. By choosing the maximum of these two values, the system can anticipate the beginning of a signal burst, and still have enough delay to compensate the end of a signal burst. In one embodiment of the invention, multiple channel signals can be leveled, either individually or in groups.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2007
    Assignee: Northrop Grumman Corp.
    Inventors: Cyrus A. Dhalla, Michael S. Munoz
  • Patent number: 7184725
    Abstract: A pole switch down-converter with symmetric resonator which reduce the non resonating phase to approximately half of the RF carrier period of the modulated signal is proposed. The down-converter comprises a first and second ?/2 resonator for collecting RF energy, wherein a differential RF signal is coupled to the first and second ?/2 resonator, a switching means coupled at one end of the first ?/2 resonator and one end of second ?/2 resonator for connecting the first and second ?/2 resonator, a control means for controlling the switching means, and a detecting means coupled to the first and second ?/2 resonator for detecting the down-converted signal, wherein the control means is adapted to initiate in a down-conversion cycle the switching means to connect the first and second ?/2 resonator for approximate half of the RF carrier period of the modulated signal. With this pole switch down-converter adjacent RF channels can be selected and down-converted by slightly varying the pole switch repetition rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2007
    Assignee: Sony Deutschland GmbH
    Inventors: Ingo Ruhm, Ralf Böhnke
  • Patent number: 7116942
    Abstract: A radio communication apparatus includes a radio signal processing section which produces a first signal. A power calculation section produces a power value signal of the first signal. A correlation detection section produces correlative value signals corresponding to a correlation between the first signal and a known signal. A first and a second detection section detect a beginning of the reception signal, using the power value signal and the correlative value signal respectively. The first and the second detection section respectively produce a first detection and a second detection signal, each of which include information of a beginning timing of the reception signal. A select control section is supplied with the first and the second detection signals and selectively outputs one of them. A demodulation section demodulates a data signal from the first signal using an output signal from the select control section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2006
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Jun Hasegawa
  • Patent number: 7107085
    Abstract: A mobile communication terminal having adaptive array antennas is provided that is capable of transmitting signals to an intended base station without interfering other devices, even when a reception error occurs. The mobile communication terminal basically performs array transmission/reception using weight vectors produced in reception to weight and combine signals received via antennas, and thereby receives a desired signal. In transmission, the mobile communication terminal uses the weight vectors used in reception to weight and combine transmission signals and transmits them. However, when an error detection circuit detects a reception error in the desired signal, a transmission control unit turns off a switch for the antenna and transmits the transmission signals in a non-directional pattern via the antenna, so that the transmission signal reaches the intended base station.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2006
    Assignee: Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd
    Inventor: Yoshiharu Doi
  • Patent number: 7107027
    Abstract: Automatic gain control (AGC) functionality is distributed within a transmitter chain. A controller manages two or more variable gain amplifiers to achieve the desired result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2006
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventor: Eliav Zipper
  • Patent number: 7088794
    Abstract: An automatic gain control RF signal processor for receiver systems, such as radar intercept receivers, includes an attenuator having an input for receiving an analog RF input signal, an amplifier coupled to the attenuator, a bandpass filter coupled to the amplifier output, a single ADC coupled to the bandpass filter, a digital logic circuit, and a FIFO buffer. The digital logic circuit has an input for receiving the ADC output signal, a first output coupled to a variable gain control input of the attenuator, and a second output. The logic circuit includes signal detection logic for detecting the presence of a pulse within the ADC signal, determining a peak amplitude value of the pulse, and based on the peak amplitude value generating an attenuation value at the first output that is applied to the variable gain control input of the attenuator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2006
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
    Inventor: Gregory M. Nichols
  • Patent number: 7082291
    Abstract: A method for controlling gain of an amplifier includes amplifying one or more received signals to produce one or more amplified signals. The method also includes generating a plurality of down converted signals using the one or more amplified signals. The method further includes amplifying the plurality of down converted signals based on a gain control signal. In addition, the method includes varying a time constant of the gain control signal based on a time derivative parameter associated with the plurality of down converted signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2006
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Christian Nystrom, Per Konradsson, Ari Grasbeck
  • Patent number: 7076224
    Abstract: A method and device are disclosed for receiving digital television signals by a frequency tuner. The power of the signal is measured after an analog/digital conversion in the frequency tuner, and the gain thereof is controlled on the basis of this power measurement according to a predetermined control law. The power of the analog signal, tapped between an input amplifier stage and a first frequency transposition stage, or immediately after the first frequency transposition stage, is also measured. The measured power is compared with a predetermined power threshold so as to obtain first binary information, and the gain control law is set on the basis of the value of the first binary information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2006
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.A.
    Inventors: Florence Giry-Cassan, François van Zanten
  • Patent number: 7072627
    Abstract: A first signal component is received having a first signal strength and a second signal component is received having a second signal strength. A difference is identified between the first signal strength and the second signal strength. A determination is made as to whether the difference between the first signal strength and the second signal strength exceeds a threshold. If the difference between the first signal strength and the second signal strength exceeds a threshold, the first signal strength is adjusted to reduce the difference between the first signal strength and the second signal strength.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: Louis F. Coffin, III
  • Patent number: 7065164
    Abstract: A wireless communication apparatus includes an antenna receiving a radio signal, a variable gain amplifier amplifying the received signal using a variable gain, an analog-to-digital converter converting the amplified signal into a digital signal, a gain setting unit periodically updating the gain of the variable gain amplifier in accordance with an output from the analog-to-digital converter, and an operating mode selection unit selecting one of a plurality of operating modes characterized by different gain updating periods in accordance with the output from the analog-to-digital converter, the selected operating mode being set in the gain setting unit. With this construction, the precision in conversion by the analog-to-digital converter is maintained at a proper level when an environment for signal reception varies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2006
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Nobuhiro Sakima
  • Patent number: 7046749
    Abstract: An Automatic Gain Control (AGC) circuit as used in a digital receiver that utilizes a main loop filter that is of a relatively wide bandwidth. A pre-filter, wideband variance is determined from the input digital signal, and a post-filter, narrowband variance is also determined. The wideband and narrowband variances are then compared to determine if the wideband signal power indicates a variance level that is too great to permit normal loop operation. By reapplying this difference in the power levels to the filter output as needed, such as by a scaling operation, the loss in dynamic range is effectively recovered. In a preferred embodiment, an adjustable gain input amplifier feeds an intermediate frequency (IF) signal to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The digitized IF signal is then down-converted to a baseband frequency and subjected to digital filtering. A narrowband sample variance (PN) of the digitally filtered (narrowband) data is then determined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2006
    Assignee: IPR Licensing, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark J. Takatz, Alton S. Keel, Jr., Stefan Haenggi
  • Patent number: 7002946
    Abstract: A cross product is determined for a received signal. A dot product is also determined for the received signal. If the cross product is greater than a predetermined threshold, the cross product is decremented by the product of the dot product multiplied by a constant value. If the cross product is less than or equal to the predetermined threshold, the cross product is incremented by the product of the dot product multiplied by the constant value. The incrementing or decrementing is continued until the frequency error approaches a minimum value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2006
    Assignee: Qualcomm Inc.
    Inventor: Andrew Sendonaris
  • Patent number: 6996383
    Abstract: An automatic gain control (AGC) system (100) for a controlled gain receiver (1101) includes a magnitude generator (160) and a gain corrector (170). The magnitude generator (160) generates a binary voltage squared signal (165) having a binary value that is directly proportional to a recovered signal power of an intercepted signal (113). The gain corrector (170) determines an adjustment of a gain control value (195) as a multiple of increments that are approximately 3 decibel (dB), by shifting (475, 445) a reference threshold by one or more bits and comparing (485, 455) the shifted reference threshold to the binary voltage squared signal. An initial setting of a state of a step attenuator (114) during a track mode (172) is determined during a warm up mode (171) by comparing the binary voltage squared signal (165) to two different thresholds (245, 255). A filter (162) accommodates a variety of bandwidths and symbol rates by settings of an accumulator (505) and scaler (510) that are included in the filter (162).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2006
    Assignee: Motorola, Inc.
    Inventors: James David Hughes, John Richard Oakley, Clinton C Powell, II
  • Patent number: 6975674
    Abstract: There is disclosed a mixed mode equalization system for use in a transceiver capable of operating in a high frequency Ethernet local area network (LAN).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2005
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Abhijit M. Phanse, Peter J. Sallaway, Thulasinath G. Manickam
  • Patent number: 6963733
    Abstract: The present invention reduces automatic gain control (AGC) transients using first and second AGC processing branches to receive a signal. A gain is selectively adjusted (if desired) in the one of the AGC processing branches during a first time period. However, a gain is not adjusted in the other AGC processing branch during that first time period. The signals generated by the first and second AGC processing branches are then diversity processed to generate a received signal. The diversity processing effectively reduces the effect of any AGC transient.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2005
    Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson (publ)
    Inventors: Patrik Eriksson, Mats Eriksson
  • Patent number: 6959176
    Abstract: A communications terminal, in particular a mobile radio station, having an AF amplifier stage, which includes a gain adjustment for adjusting the gain factor as a function of the speech volume.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2005
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventor: Werner Krueger
  • Patent number: 6952459
    Abstract: Method of obtaining a transmission gain function by means of an array of antennae, a signal to be transmitted by the array being weighted by a vector ({overscore (b)}d) of N complex coefficients, referred to as the transmission weighting vector, N being the number of antennae in the array, the array transmitting to a telecommunication terminal over a transmission channel, referred to as the downlink channel, a downlink transmission signal (Sd) and the said terminal transmitting to the said array over a transmission channel, referred to as the uplink channel, an uplink transmission signal (Su), the said downlink channel being disturbed by an isotropic noise (N?) and/or a directional noise, referred to as the downlink interference (Id), the said transmission weighting vector ({overscore (b)}d) being determined by means of a matrix product from a noise power matrix (Dd) which is a function of the power of the said isotropic noise and/or of the power of the said directional noise and a vector ({overscore (Cd)}),
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2005
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Nicolas Voyer
  • Patent number: 6892080
    Abstract: A booster amplifier that can be coupled to virtually any cellular telephone handset is provided for use with virtually any cellular communications network. The power output of the booster amplifier is dynamically controlled based upon signals received from the handset to improve the quality and range of communications between the handset and the base stations of the cellular network without interfering with normal communications between the cellular network and other handsets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2005
    Assignee: Arrista Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Elwood Dalen Grant Friesen, Wybrandus Theodore Schellekens
  • Patent number: 6865168
    Abstract: A communication system includes a first communication station for transmitting first data and second data at a first transmission power level and a second transmission power level, respectively, and a second communication station for receiving the first data and the second data transmitted from the first communication station as a reception signal. The second communication station generates transmission power control information based on the received first and second data, and transmits the generated transmission power control information to the first communication station. The first communication station receives the transmission power control information from the second communication station, and controls the first transmission power level and the second transmission power level independently of each other based on the transmission power control information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2005
    Assignee: Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kiyoki Sekine
  • Patent number: 6853694
    Abstract: A combiner for use in a spatial diversity radio receiver which receives multiple data signals through spaced apart antennae. The combiner includes a receiving component configured for receiving strength-indicative signals, each strength-indicative signal being indicative of the strength of one of the received data signals, and demodulated data signals. A control signal generating component configured for generating control signals generates control signals responsive to the strength-indicative signals. A combining component configured for combining signals combines, in linear proportions determined by the control signals, those of the demodulated data signals which are both above a predetermined strength threshold level (“combiner threshold”) and differ in strength by less than a predetermined margin of preferably between 3 dB and 12 dB (e.g. 6 dB) to provide a combined output data signal. When more than the margin separates the signal strengths, only the strongest signal is used.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2005
    Assignee: Dataradio Inc.
    Inventors: André Beaudin, Richard Vallée, Michel D. Martin
  • Patent number: 6842489
    Abstract: A receiver is adaptively calibrated by using a coherent reference signal. The reference signal is selected to be offset from a center frequency of the calibration signal such that the resultant product is offset from baseband by some small amount. The resultant product is used to determine a next value of the calibration parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2005
    Assignee: Ditrans IP, Inc.
    Inventor: Wesley K. Masenten
  • Publication number: 20040259510
    Abstract: A receiver 30 has an adjustable gain control circuit 32 that provides gain control base on the magnitude of the signal at the input of an analog-to-digital converter 22. The magnitude of a gain increase or decrease can be based on the most significant bits of the analog-to-digital output, indicating whether the analog-to-digital converter is close to saturation, approaching saturation, or well below saturation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 23, 2003
    Publication date: December 23, 2004
    Inventors: Pascal Audinot, Vincent Roussel
  • Patent number: 6831957
    Abstract: A digital radio receiver system uses a dual mode automatic gain control architecture and method to enhance signal-to-noise ratio and linearity to accommodate reception and processing of both L-band RF signals and band-III RF signals. The system architecture employs an analog AGC to control high/low gain switches associated with front end low noise amplifiers and down converters, as well as a digital AGC to control gain controlled amplifier and programmable gain amplifier gain settings. The AGC control can be implemented totally within the system architecture or optionally can be implemented via an external data processing device such as a DSP or micro-controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2004
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventor: Zhiliang Julian Chen
  • Publication number: 20040242174
    Abstract: A method for adjusting automatic gain control of a radio receiver begins by determining power level of a radio frequency (RF) signal received by the radio receiver to produce a determined power level. The method then continues by comparing the determined power level with a plurality of power thresholds to determine whether an automatic gain adjustment is needed. The method then continues, when the automatic gain adjustment is needed, by determining, from the comparing the determined power level with the plurality of power thresholds, a sign of the automatic gain adjustment. The method continues by determining, from the comparing the determined power level with the plurality of power thresholds, a magnitude of the automatic gain adjustment. The method continues by addressing a gain adjustment look up table for at least a portion of the radio receiver based on the magnitude to produce a gain setting.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 28, 2004
    Publication date: December 2, 2004
    Inventors: Hea Joung Kim, Paul Anthony Lettieri, Brima B. Ibrahim
  • Publication number: 20040235439
    Abstract: A method and apparatus to selectively disregard co-channel transmissions on a medium uses an automatic gain control/clear channel assessment (AGC/CCA) circuit to gather signal power information, which is used to establish receiver sensitivity thresholds. Raw and cyclical power measurements of a received signal are processed by the AGC/CCA circuit to determine whether a current received signal process should be halted, and a new signal acquisition sequence begun.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 18, 2004
    Publication date: November 25, 2004
    Inventors: Paul J. Husted, William J. McFarland
  • Patent number: 6823174
    Abstract: An adaptive antenna is implemented using a plurality of modular array element modules. Each array element module comprises an antenna element of the adaptive antenna. Each antenna element is coupled to a weighting circuit is also coupled to a previous weighting circuit within a previous array element module in a concatenated manner. Each weighting circuit is configured to apply a complex weight to the antenna samples and add the result to the output of the previous weighting circuit. Each antenna element is also coupled to a cross-correlation measurement circuit configured to cross-correlate antenna samples with adaptation error samples to provide cross-correlation measurement samples to a controller which determines a weight applied by the weighting circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2004
    Assignee: Ditrans IP, Inc.
    Inventors: Wesley K. Masenten, Robert A. Dell-Imagine