Ericsson Gmbh

General Electric Company

Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)

Ravinder David Koilpillai

Sandeep Chennakeshu

Gregory Edward Bottomley

Paul W Dent

Ali S Khayrallah

Rajaram Ramesh

Amer A Hassan

John Erik Hershey

Jerome Johnson Tiemann

Kambiz Casey Zangi

David R Irvin

Kenneth B Welles, Ii

David Byrd Ribner

Jacobus C Haartsen

Stephen Michael Hladik

Raymond L Toy

John B Anderson

Thomas M Croft

Harold W Tomlinson

Irfan Ali

Sandeep Channakeshu

A mobile communications device includes at least two receivers and a memory module. The power consumption of the mobile communications device is controlled by selectively awakening and sleeping the receivers as needed to ensure that the desired quality of reception to check the control channel for messages from an associated base station and to handle incoming communications is maintained. The mobile communications device may operate in single receiver mode or dual receiver diversity mode. In the dual receiver diversity mode, the mobile communications device may switch between one of a number of diversity combining techniques based on the quality of reception.

Power conservation method for mobile communications device with two receivers

A reduced search symbol estimation algorithm includes a forward recursion, a backward recursion, and a combining step. To reduce complexity, during the forward and backward recursions, the number of survivor states retained at each stage is less than the total number of states of the trellis. The survivor states are selected from a group of candidate states, that are connected by branches to survivors from the previous stage of the recursion. The decoder compares the accumulated path metrics for each candidate state and retains a specified number of states that is less than the total possible number of states. For the forward recursion, the retained states or survivor states, denoted as Q , are stored along with the corresponding state metrics. For the backward recursion, the retained states, denoted as R , are stored along with the corresponding state metrics. During the combining step, the computation of a soft value is restricted to branches (s&prime;,s) connecting survivor states s&prime; and s in the forward and backward recursions respectively.

Reduced search symbol estimation algorithm

Combined equalization and decoding of codewords in a coded modulation symbol sequence that has been received from a channel is accomplished in a number of ways. In an intersymbol interference (ISI) cancellation technique, channel impulse response (CIR) estimates corresponding to each received symbol of the coded modulation symbol sequence are determined. Codeword k of the received symbol sequence is then decoded using a maximum likelihood decoding trellis with a path metric that depends upon the CIR estimates and that includes at least one term representing intersymbol interference resulting from symbols of previously decoded codewords. The decoding step is repeated until all of the codewords of the received coded modulation symbol sequence have been decoded. In a maximum likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE)-based technique, an MLSE trellis is advanced from one stage to a next stage by updating a path metric having dependence on the CIR estimates and upon symbols of a codeword corresponding to a state in a previous trellis stage. The trellis-advancing step is repeated until all stages of the MLSE trellis are completed. Then, the codewords are decoded by using a traceback along the best path in the completed MLSE trellis. In another embodiment, a hybrid MLSE-ISI technique utilizes a path metric that depends upon the CIR estimates and upon symbols of a codeword corresponding to a state in a previous trellis stage. The path metric further includes at least one term that represents intersymbol interference resulting from symbols of previously decoded codewords.

Combined equalization and decoding techniques

An important consideration in a coded modulation scheme is the choice of the component codes, which has a significant impact on the overall bit error rate performance and which determines the decoding complexity. Methods and apparatus employing product codes are described that can improve the performance of selected classes of information in the coded modulation scheme without affecting the decoding complexity or performance of other classes of information.

Unequal error protection in coded modulation schemes

A system and method for bidirectionally demodulating data symbols transmitted through a communication channel. The method includes sequentially receiving and storing a first plurality of known data symbols, a second plurality of unknown data symbols, and a third plurality of known data symbols. Thereafter, a first block of the unknown data symbols received nearer the first plurality of known data symbols is forward-demodulated. Likewise, a second block of the unknown data symbols received nearer the third plurality of known data symbols is backward-demodulated. The forward- and backward-demodulation of the unknown data symbols determines quality values (figure-of-merits based on at least one of signal power, noise power and a combination of signal power plus noise power) indicative of demodulation qualities of the unknown data symbols that are compared to produce a best direction indication. Upon determining the best direction indication, either the forward- or backward-demodulation steps are repeated for subsequent blocks of unknown data symbols.

Method and apparatus for bidirectional demodulation of digitally

A low complexity, high performance trellis decoder adapts the complexity of the trellis decoding process based on a current condition of the communications system. A trellis structure of nodes and branches is developed to decode the sequence of symbols received over a communications channel. Each set of nodes in the trellis represents the possible values of a received symbol at one time instant. Each branch defines a specific transition between nodes at different time instants, and each branch has an associated branch metric or weight. A linkage of branches between the nodes and the trellis defines a path through the trellis that represents one possible symbol sequence, and an accumulated metric/weight is generated for each possible path through the trellis. A variable number M survivor paths through the trellis is determined based on their accumulated path metric/weights. The value of the variable M depends on the current condition of the communications system. Once the value of M is adapted to the current condition, the sequence of received symbols is decoded using M survivor paths through the trellis.

Method and apparauts for symbol decoding

If no uncorrectable errors are discovered in a received data packet, an acknowledgment is sent back to the sender. Conversely, if the data packet contains uncorrectable errors, no acknowledgment is sent, forcing a re-transmission of that data packet in accordance with an automatic repeat request (ARQ) procedure. In such cases, sets of unquantized signal values relating to received data packets having uncorrectable errors are stored. When two or more sets of unquantized signal values for the same received data packet (as re-transmitted) have been stored, the unquantized signal values are numerically combined on a bit-by-bit basis, and then quantized to regenerate a combined data packet. If no uncorrectable errors are discovered in that combined data packet, an acknowledgment is sent back to the sender. Otherwise, no acknowledgment is sent, forcing another data packet re-transmission.

Automatic repeat request(ARQ) data communications method and apparatus

Channel estimator circuitry and associated method for a digital receiver operates to estimate a channel impulse response of a transmission channel. When intersymbol interference is introduced upon a communication signal only by circuitry of a transmitter and a receiver, the quality of channel estimation is improved. Even when intersymbol interference is introduced upon a communication signal during its transmission, the quality of channel estimation is improved by decomposing the components of the intersymbol interference into portions introduced during transmission of the signal upon a communication channel and portions introduced by the transmitter and receiver circuitry.

Channel estimator circuitry, and associated method, for a digital

A robust automatic frequency control (AFC) loop for use in radio frequency systems performs a threshold test on the accumulated error adjustments for controlling a frequency oscillator. Based on this test, the loop adjusts the value contained in the error accumulator to allow the receiver to remain locked to a desired frequency carrier even in the presence of a strong adjacent channel interferer. The AFC loop is designed to be used in error systems where the predetermined fixed carrier spacing. Assuming that the initial frequency error is never exceeded by one-half the carrier spacing, the system can determine if the wrong channel has been locked to if the oscillator in the AFC loop is corrected by more than half the carrier spacing. Through use of a threshold test on the accumulative oscillator correction, the AFC loop can determine if the receiver has locked to an adjacent interfering channel. Having determined such a lock has occurred, the oscillator can be adjusted by plus or minus one channel, thus reestablishing connection of the AFC loop to the desired channel.

Automatic frequency control with adjacent channel interference protection

Delta sigma modulators for accepting input signals having amplitudes up to -1 dB of full-scale and a center frequency (F.sub.S) in the range �F.sub.S /90, 44F 90!, and which are not prone to internal overflow, require few circuit parameters, and yield a signal transfer function with the inherent property that the modulator magnitude response is close to unity gain in the frequency region of interest include, in one embodiment, a pair of cascaded integrators, a unit delay element coupled to the output of the second integrator, an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter, and a one-bit digital-to-analog (D/A) converter controlled by output signals from the A/D converter. A first differential summing junction coupled to the output of the D/A converter is responsive to delta sigma modulator input signals. A second differential summing junction, coupled to the output of the first differential summing junction, is also coupled to receive a feedback signal from the second integrator. A third differential summing junction, coupled to the output of the unit delay element, also receives feed-forward signals from the second integrator.

Feed-forward bandpass delta-sigma converter with tunable center frequency

A mode of communication for asset tracking units involves communication between a central station and the individual tracking units, usually through a satellite link. This mode is the primary communication link for tracking the assets. A second mode is the local area network (LAN) or 'mutter' mode, in which a subset of tracking units communicate with each other in a mobile LAN. This mode is used as the secondary communication mechanism to conserve power, since mutter mode communication requires much less energy for local communication between the tracking units as opposed to direct satellite communication with the central station. In addition, mutter mode leads to increased reliability of the asset tracking system by enabling tracking of units which have batteries too weak to support communication with the central station, but strong enough to support communication in mutter mode. The mutter mode is also useful in finding tracking units which are not communicating with the central station due primary communication equipment fault or other inhibiting condition.

Protocol and mechanism for primary and mutter mode communication for

A low complexity adaptive equalizer for use in U.S. digital cellular radios demodulates .pi./4-shifted differentially encoded quadrature phase shift keyed (DQPSK) encoding in the presence of intersymbol interference (ISI) with reduced decoding complexity by employing an estimated received constellation which takes into account channel changes over time and ISI. The decoding complexity is reduced by tracking a reduced number of estimated reference constellation points and taking advantage of the geometry to estimate the remaining symbol constellation points. A slot of symbols is decoded, employing unique filtering, in segments from the beginning in a forward direction and from the end in a reverse direction meeting at a fade point. This isolates a fade and allows the equalizer to perform more reliably.

Growing community of inventors

Cary, NC, United States of America

Ravinder David Koilpillai