Wireless communication device and method for identifying the type of modulation among a plurality of modulation types in a near filed communication device

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, the plurality of modulation types including type-B modulation; 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-B modulated signal for a first time slot corresponding to a duration of a symbol;

when a result of the decoding of the first time slot as a type-B 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-B 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-B 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.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein said duration is 9.44 microseconds.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein when the result of decoding the first time slot is 00 in hexadecimal notation, the modulation-type selection circuitry controls the demodulation and decoding circuitry to decode a second time slot of a same duration as the first one and consecutive thereto as a type-B modulated signal.

4. The device of claim 3 wherein:

when the result of the decoding of the second time slot is 00 in hexadecimal notation, the modulation-type selection circuitry selects type-B modulation as the modulation type of the received signal; and

otherwise, the modulation-type selection circuitry selects type-15693 modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

5. The device of claim 1 wherein when the result of decoding the first time slot, in hexadecimal notation, is different from 00 and smaller than AA, 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 decoding the first time slot is FC in hexadecimal notation, the modulation-type selection circuitry selects type-A modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

7. The device of claim 1 wherein when the result of decoding the first time slot is AA in hexadecimal notation, the modulation-type selection circuitry selects type-C modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

8. The device of claim 1 wherein when the result of decoding the first time slot is CC in hexadecimal notation, the modulation-type selection circuitry selects type-C modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

9. The device of claim 1 wherein when the result of decoding the first time slot is not included in a set of results {00, FC, AA, CC} in hexadecimal notation, the modulation-type selection circuitry selects type-15693 modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

10. 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-B modulated signal for a first time slot corresponding to a duration of a symbol;

when a result of the decoding of the first time slot as a type-B 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-B 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-B 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-B modulated signal.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein said duration is 9.44 microseconds.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein when the result of decoding the first time slot is 00 in hexadecimal notation, the digital-signal-processing circuitry decodes a second time slot of a same duration as the first one and consecutive thereto as a type-B modulated signal.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein:

when the result of the decoding of the second time slot is 00 in hexadecimal notation, the digital-signal-processing circuitry selects type-B modulation as the modulation type of the received signal; and

otherwise, the digital-signal-processing circuitry selects type-15693 modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

14. The system of claim 10 wherein when the result of decoding the first time slot, in hexadecimal notation, is different from 00 and smaller than AA, the digital-signal-processing circuitry selects type-15693 modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

15. The system of claim 10 wherein when the result of decoding the first time slot is FC in hexadecimal notation, the digital-signal-processing circuitry selects type-A modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

16. The system of claim 10 wherein when the result of decoding the first time slot is AA in hexadecimal notation, the digital-signal-processing circuitry selects type-C modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

17. The system of claim 10 wherein when the result of decoding the first time slot is CC in hexadecimal notation, the digital-signal-processing circuitry selects type-C modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

18. The system of claim 10 wherein when the result of decoding the first time slot is not included in a set of results {00, FC, AA, CC} in hexadecimal notation, the digital-signal-processing circuitry selects type-15693 modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

19. 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-B modulated signal for a first time slot corresponding to a duration of 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-B 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-B modulated signal.

20. The medium of claim 19 wherein when the result of decoding the first time slot is 00 in hexadecimal notation, the method comprises decoding a second time slot of a same duration as the first one and consecutive thereto as a type-B modulated signal.

21. The medium of claim 20 wherein:

when the result of the decoding of the second time slot is 00 in hexadecimal notation, the method comprises selecting type-B modulation as the modulation type of the received signal; and

otherwise, the method comprises selecting type-15693 modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

22. The medium of claim 19 wherein when the result of decoding the first time slot, in hexadecimal notation, is different from 00 and smaller than AA, the method comprises selecting type-15693 modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

23. The medium of claim 19 wherein when the result of decoding the first time slot is FC in hexadecimal notation, the method comprises selecting type-A modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

24. The medium of claim 19 wherein when the result of decoding the first time slot is AA in hexadecimal notation, the method comprises selecting type-C modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

25. The medium of claim 19 wherein when the result of decoding the first time slot is CC in hexadecimal notation, the method comprises selecting type-C modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

26. The medium of claim 19 wherein when the result of decoding the first time slot is not included in a set of results {00, FC, AA, CC} in hexadecimal notation, the method comprises selecting type-15693 modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

27. A method comprising:

selecting a modulation type of a received signal by:

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

determining when a result of the decoding of the first time slot identifies one of a plurality of modulation types as the 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-B 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-B modulated signal; and

decoding the received signal using the selected modulation type.

28. The method of claim 27 , comprising:

when the result of decoding the first time slot is 00 in hexadecimal notation, decoding a second time slot of a same duration as the first one and consecutive thereto as a type-B modulated signal.

29. The method of claim 28 , comprising:

when the result of the decoding of the second time slot is 00 in hexadecimal notation, selecting type-B modulation as the modulation type of the received signal; and

otherwise, selecting type-15693 modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

30. The method of claim 27 , comprising:

when the result of decoding the first time slot, in hexadecimal notation, is different from 00 and smaller than AA, selecting type-15693 modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

31. The method of claim 27 , comprising:

when the result of decoding the first time slot is FC in hexadecimal notation, selecting type-A modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

32. The method of claim 27 , comprising:

when the result of decoding the first time slot is AA in hexadecimal notation, selecting type-C modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

33. The method of claim 27 , comprising:

when the result of decoding the first time slot is CC in hexadecimal notation, selecting type-C modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.

34. The method of claim 27 , comprising:

when the result of decoding the first time slot is not included in a set of results {00, FC, AA, CC} in hexadecimal notation, selecting type-15693 modulation as the modulation type of the received signal.