Technique for automatic gain control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9143177-B2
Application number	US-201214007679-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 28, 2012
Priority date	Mar 30, 2011
Publication date	Sep 22, 2015
Grant date	Sep 22, 2015

Abstract

A technique for performing Automatic Gain Control for a receiver ( 102 ) of a device ( 100 ) connected to a communication system is provided. As for a method embodiment, a method ( 200 ) comprises the steps of receiving ( 205 ) a signal using a gain setting ( 310; 410; 510; 610 ) of the receiver ( 102 ); at least partially decoding ( 210 ) the received signal ( 301; 401; 501; 601 ) to obtain a decoding result; and selecting ( 215 ) the gain setting based on the decoding result.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of performing Automatic Gain Control, AGC, for a receiver of a device connected to a communication system, the method comprising:
receiving a signal using a gain setting of the receiver;
at least partially decoding the received signal to obtain a decoding result, the decoding result indicating at least one of success and failure of the decoding; and
selecting the gain setting based on the decoding result, the selecting of the gain setting including maintaining the gain setting of the receiver in a presence of an interference in the received signal, the failure of the decoding indicating the presence of the interference.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the gain setting comprises:
updating the gain setting of the receiver in an absence of an interference in the received signal, the success of the decoding indicating the absence of the interference.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
estimating a signal-to-noise ratio of the received signal, the signal-to-noise ratio further indicating at least one of a presence and an absence of the interference.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
estimating an error rate of the received signal, the error rate further indicating at least one of a presence and an absence of the interference.

5. The method claim 2 , further comprising:
determining a Fourier component of the received signal at a predefined interference frequency or in a predefined interference spectrum, the Fourier component further indicating at least one of a presence and an absence of the interference.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein predefined interference patterns are stored in a memory of the device, the method further comprising:
matching the received signal to each of a plurality of the predefined interference patterns.

7. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
periodically measuring received power, wherein an increase of the received power within one period, two periods or few periods further indicates the presence of the interference.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the gain setting is updated based on at least one of a hysteretic analysis of the received power and an integration time of the received power.

9. The method of claim 2 , wherein the gain setting is updated based on a measurement of received power, wherein the updating is delayed with respect to the measurement by a delay time.

10. The method of claim 2 , wherein the indications are at least one of numerically weighted and logically combined.

11. The method of claim 2 , wherein the received signal is transmitted on a control channel of the communication system.

12. The method of claim 2 , wherein the gain setting is applied to the receiver at different stages of a receiver path in the device, including at least one of a stage in the receiver and a stage prior to an analog-to-digital converter.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein maintaining the gain setting includes at least one of:
(a) a suppressed change of the gain setting, wherein the suppressed change is equal to or less than half of a conventional AGC response; and
(b) a transient change of the gain setting, wherein the gain setting is continuously updated and returns to a prior gain setting in case the failure of the decoding indicates the presence of the interference.

14. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing executable instructions, which when executed by a processor on a device, causes the device to:
receive a signal using a gain setting of the receiver;
at least partially decode the received signal to obtain a decoding result, the decoding result indicating at least one of success and failure of the decoding;
select the gain setting based on the decoding result, the selecting of the gain setting including maintaining the gain setting of the receiver in a presence of an interference in the received signal, the failure of the decoding indicating the presence of the interference.

15. A device for performing Automatic Gain Control, or AGC, for a receiver of the device connected to a communication system, the device comprising:
a receiver configured to receive a signal using a gain setting of the receiver;
a decoding unit configured to at least partially decode the received signal to obtain a decoding result, the decoding result indicating at least one of success and failure of the decoding; and
an AGC unit configured to select the gain setting based on the decoding result, the AGC unit is configured to select the gain setting at least by maintaining the gain setting of the receiver in a presence of an interference in the received signal, the failure of the decoding indicating the presence of the interference.

16. The device of claim 15 , wherein the AGC unit is configured to select the gain setting by updating the gain setting of the receiver in the absence of an interference in the received signal, the success of the decoding indicating the absence of the interference.

Assignees

• Wilhelmsson Leif
• Lindoff Bengt
• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Wilhelmsson Leif
• Lindoff Bengt

Classifications

• H04L27/3809

  Amplitude regulation arrangements · CPC title

• H03G3/3078

  Circuits generating control signals for digitally modulated signals · CPC title

• H04L27/2647

  Arrangements specific to the receiver only (equalisation H04L27/01) · CPC title

• H03G3/3052 Primary

  in bandpass amplifiers (H.F. or I.F.) or in frequency-changers used in a (super)heterodyne receiver (H03G3/32, H03G3/34 take precedence) · CPC title

• H04B1/123 Primary

  using adaptive balancing or compensation means (adaptive filter circuits and algorithms H03H) · CPC title