Performing impulse blanking based on blocker information
View Patent ↗One aspect of the present invention is directed to an apparatus to perform impulse blanking of a received signal at multiple locations of a signal processing path. To effect such impulse blanking, multiple impulse detectors and blankers may be present, in addition to other circuitry. The impulse detectors may operate at different bandwidths, and the impulse blankers may be located at different locations of the signal processing path and may be differently configured.
1. A method comprising:
determining whether at least one blocker signal is present in a blocking spectrum surrounding a desired radio channel;
if no blocker signal is present, using a wideband impulse detector to determine whether impulse noise is present in the blocking spectrum, and performing impulse blanking using a first impulse blanker of a signal processing path; and
if at least one blocker signal is present and the at least one blocker signal is outside of an N+/−1 channel with regard to the desired radio channel, using a narrowband impulse detector to determine whether impulse noise is present in the desired radio channel, and performing the impulse blanking using a second impulse blanker of the signal processing path, the second impulse blanker downstream of the first impulse blanker.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising if the at least one blocker signal is present within the N+/−1 channel, using the wideband impulse detector to determine whether the impulse noise is present, and performing the impulse blanking using a third impulse detector.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising determining the presence of the at least one blocker signal in a blocker analyzer coupled to receive the desired radio channel and an image signal.
4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising communicating information from the blocker analyzer to a controller coupled to the blocker analyzer, and enabling a selected one of the first, second and third impulse blockers further based on the information.
5. An article comprising a non-volatile storage medium including instructions that enable a controller of a receiver to:
determine whether at least one blocker signal is present in a blocking spectrum surrounding a desired radio channel;
if no blocker signal is present, use a wideband impulse detector to determine whether impulse noise is present in the blocking spectrum, and perform impulse blanking using a first impulse blanker of a signal processing path; and
if at least one blocker signal is present and the at least one blocker signal is outside of an N+/−1 channel with regard to the desired radio channel, use a narrowband impulse detector to determine whether impulse noise is present in the desired radio channel, and perform the impulse blanking using a second impulse blanker of the signal processing path, the second impulse blanker downstream of the first impulse blanker.
6. The article of claim 5 , further comprising instructions to enable the controller, when at least one blocker signal is present within the N+/−1 channel, use the wideband impulse detector to determine whether the impulse noise is present, and perform the impulse blanking using a third impulse detector.
7. The article of claim 6 , further comprising instructions to enable the controller to determine the presence of the at least one blocker signal via a blocker analyzer coupled to receive the desired radio channel and an image signal.
8. The article of claim 7 , further comprising instructions to enable the controller to receive information from the blocker analyzer, and enable a selected one of the first, second and third impulse blockers further based on the information.