Synchronization beacon

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11817897-B2
Application number	US-202117189444-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 2, 2021
Priority date	Sep 6, 2018
Publication date	Nov 14, 2023
Grant date	Nov 14, 2023

Abstract

Embodiments provide a terminal point of a communication system, wherein a control signal is emitted in the communication system for coordinating the participants of the communication system, wherein the control signal is transferred distributed in correspondence with a frequency hop-based occupancy of resources of the frequency band, indicated by a control signal hopping pattern, wherein the terminal point has a receiver, wherein a receive bandwidth of the receiver is smaller at least by the factor 3 than a bandwidth of the frequency hop-based occupancy of resources of the frequency band, indicated by the control signal hopping pattern, wherein the terminal point is configured to receive a reference signal, the reference signal having information on the control signal, wherein the terminal point is configured to receive the control signal based on the information on the control signal.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A terminal point of a communication system, the terminal point comprising a receiver,
wherein the receiver is configured to receive a reference signal, wherein the reference signal comprises information on a control signal, wherein the control signal is emitted in the communication system for coordinating the participants of the communication system, the control signal being transferred distributed in correspondence with a frequency hop-based occupancy of resources of a frequency band, indicated by a control signal hopping pattern,
wherein a receive bandwidth of the receiver is smaller by at least a factor 3 than a bandwidth of the frequency hop-based occupancy of resources of the frequency band, indicated by the control signal hopping pattern;
wherein the receiver is configured to receive the control signal based on the information on the control signal,
wherein the information on the control signal, which comprise the reference signal, comprise information on the control signal hopping pattern or information on the resources of the frequency band usable by the communication system for transferring the control signal,
wherein the reference signal is transferred in a predetermined frequency range of the frequency band,
wherein the reference signal comprises a plurality of partial reference data packets which comprise the information on the control signal, wherein the reference signal is transferred in correspondence with a reference signal hopping pattern, wherein the reference signal hopping pattern indicates a frequency hop and/or time hop-based occupancy of resources of the predetermined frequency range, and
wherein the receiver is configured to receive the reference signal in correspondence with the reference signal hopping pattern to acquire at least a part of the plurality of partial reference data packets sufficient for decoding.

2. The terminal point in accordance with claim 1 ,
wherein a reference data packet, which comprises the information on the control signal, is split into the plurality of partial reference data packets so that each of the partial reference data packets comprises only a part of the reference data packet.

3. The terminal point in accordance with claim 2 ,
wherein the predetermined frequency range is predetermined fixedly and known to the terminal point.

4. The terminal point in accordance with claim 2 ,
wherein the predetermined frequency range comprises at least one frequency channel of the frequency band,
or wherein the predetermined frequency range comprises a plurality of frequency channels, wherein at least two frequency channels of the plurality of frequency channels are spaced apart from one another at most to such an extent that the at least two frequency channels are within a frequency bandwidth which corresponds to the receive bandwidth of the receiver.

5. The terminal point in accordance with claim 4 ,
wherein a reference data packet, which comprises the information on the control signal is split into the plurality of partial reference data packets such that each of the plurality of partial reference data packets comprises only a part of the reference data packet,
wherein the plurality of partial reference data packets is channel-encoded such that only a subset of the plurality of partial reference data packets is required for successfully decoding the reference data packet, and
wherein the terminal point is configured to receive and decode at least a part of the plurality of partial reference data packets to acquire the reference data packet comprising the information on the control signal.

6. The terminal point in accordance with claim 5 ,
wherein the predetermined frequency range comprises one or more partial frequency ranges, and wherein the predetermined frequency range is broader than the receive bandwidth of the receiver of the terminal point, and
wherein at least as many of the plurality of partial reference data packets are transferred per partial frequency range within the predetermined frequency range in correspondence with the reference signal hopping pattern as are required for successfully decoding the reference data packet, wherein each of the one or more partial frequency ranges corresponds to the receive bandwidth of the receiver of the terminal point.

7. The terminal point in accordance with claim 1 ,
wherein a receive bandwidth of the receiver is smaller by at least a factor 5 than a bandwidth of the frequency hop-based occupancy of resources of the frequency band, indicated by the control signal hopping pattern,
or wherein a receive bandwidth of the receiver is smaller by at least a factor 10 than a bandwidth of the frequency hop-based occupancy of resources of the frequency band, indicated by the control signal hopping pattern.

8. The terminal point in accordance with claim 1 ,
wherein the terminal point is configured to switch a receive frequency of the receiver of the terminal point to the respective resources of the frequency band, indicated by the control signal hopping pattern, based on the control signal hopping pattern to receive the control signal.

9. The terminal point in accordance with claim 1 ,
wherein the information on the control signal comprise information on the time and frequency position of the control signal relative to the reference signal.

10. The terminal point in accordance with claim 1 ,
wherein the terminal point is configured to synchronize a timer and/or frequency generator of the terminal point to the reference signal.

11. The terminal point in accordance with claim 1 ,
wherein the reference signal and the control signal are temporally mutually synchronized.

12. The terminal point in accordance with claim 1 ,
wherein the receiver of the terminal point comprises a receive bandwidth which corresponds to a bandwidth of two to ten directly adjacent frequency channels which the frequency band is divided into.

13. The terminal point in accordance with claim 12 ,
wherein the receiver of the terminal point comprises a receive bandwidth which corresponds to a bandwidth of two to four directly adjacent frequency channels which the frequency band is divided into.

14. The terminal point in accordance with claim 1 ,
wherein the receiver of the terminal point comprises a receive bandwidth of 250 kHz or less.

15. The terminal point in accordance with claim 14 ,
herein the receiver of the terminal point comprises a receive bandwidth of 100 kHz or less.

16. The terminal point in accordance with claim 1 ,
wherein the terminal point is battery-operated.

17. The terminal point in accordance with claim 1 ,
wherein the reference signal is emitted in predetermined distances, and
wherein the reference signal is emitted alternatingly in at least two predetermined partial frequency ranges of the predetermined frequency range known to the terminal point.

18. The terminal point in accordance with claim 17 ,
wherein the at least two predetermined partial frequency ranges are spaced apart from one another in frequency to such an extent that inadvertent synchronization, due to a frequency offset, to the respective other predetermined partial frequency range is not possible.

19. The terminal point in accordance with claim 1 ,
wherein the reference signal is transferred in correspondence with the reference signal hopping pattern, wherein the reference signal hopping pattern indicates the frequency hop and/or time hop-based occupancy of resources of the predetermined frequency range,
wherein the reso

Assignees

• Fraunhofer Ges Forschung
• Univ Friedrich Alexander Er

Inventors

• Kilian Gerd
• Bernhard Josef
• Obernosterer Frank
• Meyer Raimund
• Wechsler Johannes
• Kneissl Jakob
• Soller Dominik
• Robert Jörg

Classifications

• H04B1/7156 Primary

  Arrangements for sequence synchronisation · CPC title

• H04B1/7143

  Arrangements for generation of hop patterns · CPC title

• H04B2001/71563

  Acquisition · CPC title

• H04B2001/71566

  Tracking · CPC title

• H04B1/713 Primary

  using frequency hopping · CPC title