Overload protection for receiver front end
View Patent ↗An embodiment is a receiver for a communications system that may substantially block unwanted signals in a frequency range to protect the receiver from overload. Simultaneously, the receiver of an embodiment substantially passes a desired signal so that its information may be processed by the, for example, communications system of which the receiver is part.
1. An receiver comprising:
a filter to filter a desired signal from a signal;
a detector coupled to the filter to detect a strength of the signal and a strength of the desired signal; and
a controller coupled to the detector to compare the strength of the signal and the strength of the desired signal and to control a variable attenuator coupled to the filter, the variable attenuator controlled based on the comparison of the signal and the desired signal and based on a comparison of the desired signal and a threshold signal.
2. The receiver of claim 1 , the variable attenuator coupled to the filter upstream from the filter.
3. The receiver of claim 1 , the variable attenuator coupled to the filter downstream from the filter.
4. The receiver of claim 1 further comprising:
a coupler to couple the filter to the detector.
5. A communications system comprising:
a communications medium; and
a receiver including
a filter to filter a desired signal from a signal;
a detector coupled to the filter to detect a strength of the signal and a strength of the desired signal; and
a controller coupled to the detector to compare the strength of the signal and the strength of the desired signal and to control a variable attenuator coupled to the filter, the variable attenuator controlled based on the comparison of the signal and the desired signal and based on a comparison of the desired signal and a threshold signal.
6. The communications system of claim 5 , the variable attenuator coupled to the filter upstream from the filter.
7. The communications system of claim 5 , the variable attenuator coupled to the filter downstream from the filter.
8. The communications system of claim 5 , the receiver further comprising:
a coupler to couple the filter to the detector.
9. A method comprising:
receiving a signal at a receiver;
detecting the presence of an unwanted signal in a frequency band;
determining the strength of a desired signal in the frequency band;
comparing the strength of the unwanted signal to the strength of the desired signal;
substantially blocking the unwanted signal from overloading a sensitive component in the receiver by filtering the signal and by attenuating, with a variable attenuator, the signal before the sensitive component of the receiver and after the filtering; and
substantially preserving the sensitivity of the receiver to the desired signal;
wherein the variable attenuator is controlled based on the comparison of the undesired signal and the desired signal and based on a comparison of the desired signal and a threshold signal.
10. An article comprising a machine-readable storage medium containing instructions that if executed enable a communications system to:
receive a signal;
detect a strength of the signal;
filter the signal to obtain a desired signal;
detect a strength of the desired signal;
compare the strength of the signal to the strength of the desired signal; and
control a variable attenuator based on the comparison of the strength of the signal to the strength of the desired signal and based on a comparison of the desired signal and a threshold signal.
11. The article of claim 10 further comprising instructions that if executed enable the communications system to:
attenuate the signal.
12. The article of claim 10 further comprising instructions that if executed enable the communications system to:
attenuate the desired signal.