IP Library Granted Patent US 8,144,811
Granted Patent B2
US 8,144,811 · App. 12/016,955 · Granted Mar 27, 2012

Hybrid zero-IF receiver

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,144,811
App. No.
12/016,955
Granted
Mar 27, 2012
Kind
B2
Abstract

An apparatus for processing a Bluetooth signal advantageously mixes down a received RF signal to an IF signal wherein one band-edge of the spectrum of the IF signal may be approximately 0 Hz. In one embodiment, the IF signal may be digitized, decimated and filtered before being processed into a baseband signal. The baseband signal may be processed by a cordic (COordinate Rotation DIgital Computer) processor to transform the baseband signal from rectangular to polar coordinates. A phase signal from the cordic processor may be used to determine transmitted Bluetooth data symbols. The apparatus may advantageously use less area than traditional Bluetooth receivers.

Claims (122)

1. A method for processing a Bluetooth signal, the method comprising:

receiving an RF signal;

mixing the RF signal with a first frequency to produce a first signal;

low-pass filtering the first signal to produce an intermediate frequency (IF) signal; and

processing the IF signal to recover transmitted symbols, wherein the processing includes:

digitizing the IF signal to produce a digital IF signal;

filtering the digital IF signal with a low-pass filter;

decimating the low-pass filtered digital IF signal to produce a decimated IF signal;

subtracting an estimated DC offset from the decimated IF signal to produce a corrected IF signal;

mixing the corrected IF signal with a second frequency to produce a baseband signal;

transforming the baseband signal to polar coordinates including amplitude and phase to produce a transformed baseband signal;

using differences of the amplitude of currently selected and adjacent sub-samples to change a timing of the baseband signal and modify the phase of the transformed baseband signal; and

recovering the transmitted symbols from the modified transformed baseband signal.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the received RF signal is between 2401 and 2481 MHz.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the received RF signal is between 2401 and 2481 MHz.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second frequency is 500 KHz.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein a frequency response of the low-pass filter is described by

H

MA

(

ω

)

=

[

-

j

3

2

ω

sin

(

2

ω

)

sin

(

ω

)

]

4

.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the IF signal is digitized with a ΣΔ ADC.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the estimated DC offset is estimated with a configurable filter.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the configurable filter has a response described by

H

(

z

)

=

1

/

α

1

-

(

1

-

1

/

α

)

z

-

1

where α is a user selectable parameter.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein α is a programmable value.

10. A Bluetooth receiver comprising:

a first mixer configured to mix a received RF signal with a first frequency to produce a first signal;

a low-pass filter configured to filter the first signal and to produce a low-pass filtered first signal;

an ADC configured to sample the low-pass filtered first signal and to produce a digital IF signal;

a down-sampler configured to decimate the digital IF signal and to produce a decimated, digital IF signal;

a DC offset estimator configured to estimate a DC offset included in the decimated, digital IF signal;

an adder configured to subtract the estimated DC offset from the decimated, digital IF signal and to produce a corrected digital IF signal;

a second mixer configured to mix the corrected digital IF signal with a second frequency and to produce a baseband signal;

a cordic (COordinate Rotation DIgital Computer) processor configured to produce a phase signal from the baseband signal;

a phase adjuster configured to receive a phase output of the cordic processor;

a timing tracker configured to compare amplitude differences output by the cordic processor, change a timing of data generated by the down-sampler, and modify a phase signal through the phase adjuster; and

a symbol detector configured to determine transmitted symbols in the baseband signal as transformed by the phase adjuster.

11. The receiver of claim 10 , wherein the received RF signal is between 2401 and 2481 MHz.

12. The receiver of claim 10 , wherein the second frequency is 500 KHz.

13. The receiver of claim 10 , wherein the ADC is a ΣΔ ADC.

14. The receiver of claim 10 , wherein the ADC samples I and Q components.

15. The receiver of claim 10 , wherein the DC offset estimator is implemented with a configurable filter.

16. The receiver of claim 15 , wherein the configurable filter has a response described by

H

(

z

)

=

1

/

α

1

-

(

1

-

1

/

α

)

z

-

1

wherein α is a user selectable parameter.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein α is a programmable value.

18. The receiver of claim 10 , further comprising a pulse shaping filter configured to filter the baseband signal, the pulse shaping filter having a response that matches a root-raised cosine filter.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 20, 2012
From: QUALCOMM ATHEROS, INC.
To: QUALCOMM INCORPORATED
Reel/Frame 029328/0052 →
MERGER Recorded Jul 15, 2011
From: ATHEROS COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
To: QUALCOMM ATHEROS, INC.
Reel/Frame 026599/0360 →