Configuration of a near-field communication router according to the modulation type

1. A device, comprising:

demodulation and decoding circuitry, which in operation, decodes received signals according to a selected modulation type of a plurality of modulation types; and

modulation-type selection circuitry, coupled to the demodulation and decoding circuitry, wherein the modulation-type selection circuitry, in operation,

controls the demodulation and decoding circuitry to decode a received signal as a type-A modulated signal for a first time slot corresponding to a duration of a type-A symbol;

when a result of the decoding of the first time slot as a type-A modulated signal identifies one of the plurality of modulation types as a modulation type of the received signal, selects the identified modulation type as the modulation type of the received signal; and

when the result of the decoding of the first time slot as a type-A modulated signal does not identify one of the plurality of modulation types as the modulation type of the received signal, controls the demodulation and decoding circuitry to decode the received signal as a type-A modulated signal for a second time slot corresponding to the duration and selects the modulation type of the received signal based on a result of the decoding of the second time slot as a type-A modulated signal, wherein when the result of decoding the first time slot is 0000, the modulation-type selection circuitry controls the demodulation and decoding circuitry to decode the received signal as a type-A modulated signal for the second time slot corresponding to the duration and selects the modulation type of the received signal based on the result of the decoding of the second time slot.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein said duration corresponds to a duration of a bit in type-A modulation.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein the decoder, in operation, divides said first time slot into four quarters.

4. The device of claim 1 wherein when the result of decoding the first time slot is 0111, the modulation-type selection circuitry selects type-A modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

5. The device of claim 1 wherein:

when the result of the decoding of the second time slot is 0000, the modulation-type selection circuitry selects type-B modulation as the modulation type of the received signal; and

when the result of the decoding of the second time slot is not 0000, the modulation-type selection circuitry selects type-15693 modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

6. The device of claim 1 wherein when the result of the decoding of the first time slot is 0101, the modulation-type selection circuitry selects type-C modulation at 212 kbits per second as the modulation type of the received signal.

7. The device of claim 1 wherein when the result of the decoding of the first time slot is not included in a set of results {0000, 0111, 0101}, the modulation-type selection circuitry selects type-C modulation at 424 kbits per second as the modulation type of the received signal.

8. A system, comprising:

analog-front-end circuitry; and

digital-signal-processing circuitry coupled to the analog-front-end circuitry, wherein the digital-signal-processing circuitry, in operation,

decodes a received signal as a type-A modulated signal for a first time slot corresponding to a duration of a type-A symbol;

when a result of the decoding of the first time slot as a type-A modulated signal identifies one of a plurality of modulation types as a modulation type of the received signal, selects the identified modulation type as the modulation type of the received signal; and

when the result of the decoding of the first time slot as a type-A modulated signal does not identify one of the plurality of modulation types as the modulation type of the received signal, decodes the received signal as a type-A modulated signal for a second time slot corresponding to the duration and selects the modulation type of the received signal based on a result of the decoding of the second time slot as a type-A modulated signal, wherein when the result of the decoding of the first time slot is 0000, the digital-signal-processing circuitry decodes the received signal as a type-A modulated signal for the second time slot corresponding to the duration and selects the modulation type of the received signal based on the result of the decoding of the second time slot.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein,

when the result of the decoding of the first time slot is 0111, the digital-signal-processing circuitry selects type-A modulation as the modulation type of the received signal; and

when the result of the decoding of the first time slot is 0101, the digital-signal-processing circuitry selects type-C modulation at 212 kbits per second as the modulation type of the received signal.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein:

when the result of the decoding of the first time slot is 0000 and the result of the decoding of the second time slot is 0000, the digital-signal-processing circuitry selects type-B modulation as the modulation type of the received signal; and

when the result of the decoding of the first time slot is 0000 and the result of the decoding of the second time slot is not 0000, the digital-signal-processing circuitry selects type-15693 modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

11. The system of claim 8 wherein,

when the result of the decoding the first time slot is 0111, the digital-signal-processing circuitry selects type-A modulation as the modulation type of the received signal;

when the result of the decoding of the first time slot is 0101, the digital-signal-processing circuitry selects type-C modulation at 212 kbits per second as the modulation type of the received signal; and

the digital-signal-processing circuitry otherwise selects type-C modulation at 424 kbits per second as the modulation type of the received signal.

12. The system of claim 8 , comprising a near-field communication router including the analog-front-end circuitry and the digital-signal-processing circuitry.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium whose contents configure a near-field communication router to perform a method, the method comprising:

decoding a received signal as a type-A modulated signal for a first time slot corresponding to a duration of a type-A symbol;

determining when a result of the decoding of the first time slot identifies one of a plurality of modulation types as a modulation type of the received signal, and when it is determined the result of the decoding of the first time slot identifies one of the plurality of modulation types, selecting the identified modulation type as the modulation type of the received signal; and

when it is determined the result of the decoding of the first time slot does not identify one of the plurality of modulation types as the modulation type of the received signal, decoding the received signal as a type-A modulated signal for a second time slot corresponding to the duration and selecting the modulation type of the received signal based on a result of the decoding of the second time slot as a type-A modulated signal, wherein when the result of decoding the first time slot is 0000, the method comprises decoding the received signal as a type-A modulated signal for the second time slot corresponding to the duration and selecting the modulation type of the received signal based on the result of the decoding of the second time slot.

14. The medium of claim 13 wherein,

when the result of decoding the first time slot is 0111, the method comprises selecting type-A modulation as the modulation type of the received signal;

when the result of the decoding of the first time slot is 0101, the method comprises selecting type-C modulation at 212 kbits per second as the modulation type of the received signal; and

the method otherwise comprises selecting type-C modulation at 424 kbits per second as the modulation type of the received signal.

15. The medium of claim 14 wherein:

when the result of the decoding of the first time slot is 0000 and the result of the decoding of the second time slot is 0000, the method comprises selecting type-B modulation as the modulation type of the received signal; and

when the result of the decoding of the first time slot is 0000 and the result of the decoding of the second time slot is not 0000, the method comprises selecting type-15693 modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

16. A method, comprising:

decoding a received near-field communication signal as a type-A modulated signal for a first time slot corresponding to a duration of a type-A symbol;

when a result of the decoding of the first time slot identifies one of a plurality of modulation types as a modulation type of the received signal, selecting the identified modulation type as the modulation type of the received signal; and

when the result of the decoding of the first time slot does not identify one of the plurality of modulation types as the modulation type of the received signal, decoding the received signal as a type-A modulated signal for a second time slot corresponding to the duration and selecting the modulation type of the received signal based on a result of the decoding of the second time slot as a type-A modulated signal, wherein when the result of the decoding the first time slot as a type-A modulated signal is 0000, the method comprises decoding the received signal as a type-A modulated signal for the second time slot corresponding to the duration and selecting the modulation type of the received signal based on the result of the decoding of the second time slot.

17. The method of claim 16 , comprising:

when the result of the decoding the first time slot as a type-A modulated signal is 0111, selecting type-A modulation as the modulation type of the received signal;

when the result of the decoding of the first time slot as a type-A modulated signal is 0101, selecting type-C modulation at 212 kbits per second as the modulation type of the received signal; and

otherwise selecting type-C modulation at 424 kbits per second as the modulation type of the received signal.

18. The method of claim 17 , comprising:

when the result of the decoding of the first time slot is 0000 and the result of the decoding of the second time slot is 0000, selecting type-B modulation as the modulation type of the received signal; and

when the result of the decoding of the first time slot is 0000 and the result of the decoding of the second time slot is not 0000, selecting type-15693 modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein said duration corresponds to a duration of a bit in type-A modulation.