System with distributed analogue resources
View Patent ↗The present disclosure relates to a system comprising at least a first and a second essentially analogue portion and an essentially digital portion, the analogue portions forming a part of a unidirectional circular network. First communication means is provided between the digital portion and the first analogue portion. Second communication means is provided between the first and second analogue portions. The first and second communication means are configurable for establishing communication between the digital portion and the second analogue portion. The first and second communication means are arranged to determine if a packet communicated over the first or second communication means is of interest for any of the analogue portions.
1. A front-end system for a communication system comprising:
a plurality of analogue blocks arranged for transmitting and receiving analogue signals; and
a digital unidirectional circular network operative for controlling and monitoring the operation of at least one analogue block of the plurality of analogue blocks, the digital unidirectional circular network arranged for implementing a logical packet-based communication scheme, the digital unidirectional circular network comprising:
a digital master node configured to send a data packet; and
a plurality of digital slave nodes, wherein each slave node is connected to one analogue block of the plurality of analogue blocks, each slave node comprising interface circuitry for controlling and monitoring the connected analogue block and at least a first configuration register, and each of the digital slave nodes being configured to:
receive a first data packet from the digital master node, the first data packet comprising a first configuration;
store the first configuration in the first configuration register;
after storing the first configuration, receive an activation command from digital unidirectional circular network;
identify whether the activation command is addressed to the digital slave node;
in response to identifying that the activation command is addressed to the digital slave node,
retrieve the first configuration from the first configuration register, and
configure the connected analogue block using the first configuration,
wherein parameters for communication over the digital unidirectional circular network are selected to substantially minimize interference among the plurality of the analogue blocks by balancing clock propagation delay and data propagation delay in each node of the plurality of digital slave nodes by use of a clock activity profile that ramps up over time determined by the sequential activation order for the analogue blocks as required for a particular system functionality.
2. A system according to claim 1 , wherein at least two analogue blocks of the plurality of analogue blocks are on a single chip.
3. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the digital unidirectional circular network is implemented in a single integrated circuit.
4. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the digital unidirectional circular network is implemented in a single package.
5. A system according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of digital slave nodes comprises a media access layer (MAC) block.
6. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the parameters for communication are selected from a group of parameters consisting of frequency, signal amplitude, packet length, and packet format.
7. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the digital master node is a component of a baseband processor.
8. A system according to claim 7 , wherein the digital unidirectional circular network and the baseband processor are in a single integrated circuit.
9. A system according to claim 7 , wherein the digital unidirectional circular network and the baseband processor are implemented in the same package.
10. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the digital master node is provided with a Quality of Experience manager.
11. A system according to claim 1 , wherein at least two digital slave nodes of the plurality of the digital slave nodes are configured for differential signaling.
12. A system according to claim 11 , wherein the at least two digital slave nodes are configured for include low voltage differential signaling.
13. A system according to claim 1 , wherein at least two digital slave nodes of the plurality of the digital slave nodes are configured for one-bit communication.
14. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the digital master node is operative to adapt the length of the data packet to at least two speeds of communication.
15. A system comprising a first front-end system as recited in claim 1 , a second front-end system as recited in claim 1 , and a bridge node for connecting the first and second front-end systems.
16. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the digital master node is further configured to perform packet identification and propagation.
17. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the activation command comprises receiving the activation command via a data packet comprising the activation command.
18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the digital unidirectional circular network comprises an activation line, and wherein receiving the activation command comprises receiving the activation command via the activation line.
19. A method for controlling the operation of a front-end system, the method comprising:
receiving a first data packet via a digital unidirectional circular network at a digital slave node, the data packet comprising a first configuration, wherein the digital slave node comprises at least a first configuration register, and wherein the digital slave node is connected to an analogue block from a plurality of analogue blocks;
storing the first configuration in the first configuration register;
after storing the first configuration, receiving an activation command at the digital slave node;
identifying whether the activation command is addressed for the digital slave node;
in response to identifying that the activation command is addressed for the digital slave node,
retrieving the first configuration from the first configuration register, and
configuring the connected analogue block using the first configuration,
wherein parameters for communication over the digital unidirectional circular network are selected to substantially minimize interference among the plurality of the analogue blocks by balancing clock propagation delay and data propagation delay in the digital slave node by use of a clock activity profile that ramps up over time determined by the sequential activation order for the analogue blocks as required for a particular system functionality.
20. A method according to claim 19 , wherein the configuration information includes packet format information.
21. A method for monitoring the operation of a front-end system, the method comprising:
transmitting, from a digital master node over a digital unidirectional circular network arranged for implementing a logical packet-based communication scheme to a digital slave node, a first configuration, wherein the first configuration specifies a configuration to be stored by the digital slave node; and
after transmitting the first configuration, the digital master node transmitting an activation command to the digital slave node, the activation command configured to instruct the digital slave node to retrieve and utilize the first configuration,
wherein parameters for communication over the digital unidirectional circular network are selected to substantially minimize interference among a plurality of the analogue blocks by balancing clock propagation delay and data propagation delay in the digital slave node by use of a clock activity profile that ramps up over time determined by the sequential activation order for the analogue blocks as required for a particular system functionality.
22. A method according to claim 21 , wherein the digital master node includes a Quality of Experience manager.