Fast frequency-hopping transceiver and method
View Patent ↗A fast frequency-hopping transceiver comprises a RF-unit arranged on a first chip, a base-band unit on a second chip, a bidirectional operable data and control interface arranged between said first and said second chip having at least one data line for data communication, at least one control line for controlling the data communication and at least one clock line for providing a clock signal, memory means implemented within said RF-unit containing all the required chip settings which are specific to a certain frequency of received and/or transmitted data being part of the intended hopping sequence. The transceiver also includes control means for programming said memory means during an initialization phase during a set-up of a communication link of said data communication.
1. A transmitter, comprising:
a baseband circuit arranged on a first chip;
a RF circuit arranged on a second, different chip including a memory;
a controller for programming a plurality of chip settings into the memory, wherein the plurality of chip settings respectively correspond to a plurality of time slots in a frequency hopping sequence;
a bidirectional data and control interface operably coupled between the baseband circuit on the first chip and the RF circuit on the second chip, the bidirectional data and control interface having at least one data line for data communication, at least one control line for controlling the data communication, and at least one clock line for providing a clock signal;
wherein, after the controller has programmed the plurality of chip settings into the memory, the baseband circuit provides corresponding data and control information over the data line and control line, respectively, to the RF circuit, wherein the control information reflects a chip setting which is programmed in the memory and which corresponds to a timeslot in the frequency hopping sequence during which the corresponding data is to be transmitted.
2. The transmitter of claim 1 , further comprising:
a transmission path in the RF circuit to use the chip setting to modulate the corresponding data onto a frequency used during the timeslot of the frequency hopping sequence, thereby providing a modulated signal.
3. The transmitter of claim 2 , further comprising:
a RF antenna operably coupled to the transmission path, the RF antenna to transmit the modulated signal to a receiver.
4. The transmitter of claim 1 , wherein the control information corresponds to an address in the memory at which the chip setting is programmed.
5. The transmitter of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of chip settings comprise at least one of: a frequency value or a frequency offset value, which are configured to tune the RF circuit.
6. The transmitter of claim 1 , wherein the control information for the timeslot consists of only an address on the control line, wherein the address corresponds to the chip setting programmed in the memory that facilitates transmission of the corresponding data during the timeslot.
7. A receiver, comprising:
a RF circuit comprising a digital control unit, a memory, and a reception path;
a baseband circuit coupled to the reception path via a data interface and coupled to the digital control circuit via a control interface;
wherein the baseband circuit provides an initialization signal to the digital control unit over the control interface;
wherein, based on the initialization signal, the digital control unit programs the memory with a plurality of chip settings, wherein respective chip settings are to be used to receive data during respective timeslots of a frequency hopping sequence;
wherein the baseband circuit facilitates reception of data according to the frequency hopping sequence by providing control information to the digital control unit via the control interface, wherein the control information reflects a chip setting programmed in the memory and corresponding to a timeslot in the frequency hopping sequence on which data is received.
8. The receiver of claim 7 , wherein the control information corresponds to an address in the memory at which the chip setting is programmed.
9. The receiver of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of chip settings comprise at least one of: a frequency value or a frequency offset value, which are configured to tune the RF circuit.
10. The receiver of claim 7 , further comprising:
a RF antenna operably coupled to the reception path.
11. The receiver of claim 7 , wherein the control information for the timeslot consists of only an address on the control line, wherein the address corresponds to the chip setting programmed in the memory that facilitates transmission of the corresponding data during the timeslot.
12. A method, comprising:
providing an initialization signal from a baseband circuit to an RF circuit having a memory;
based on the initialization signal, programming the memory within the RF circuit with a plurality of chip settings, wherein the plurality of chip settings respectively correspond to a plurality of timeslots in a frequency hopping sequence;
after the chip settings have been programmed into the memory, providing corresponding data and control information from the baseband circuit to the RF circuit, wherein the control information reflects a chip setting which is programmed in the memory and which corresponds to a timeslot in the frequency hopping sequence during which the corresponding data is to be transmitted;
wherein the chip settings comprise at least one of: a frequency value or a frequency offset value, which are configured to tune the RF circuit.
13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
using the chip setting to modulate the corresponding data onto a frequency used during the timeslot of the frequency hopping sequence, thereby providing a modulated signal; and
providing the modulated signal to an RF antenna for transmission.
14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the control information corresponds to an address in the memory at which the chip setting is programmed.