Receiver circuit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9929790-B2
Application number	US-201715590421-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 9, 2017
Priority date	May 13, 2016
Publication date	Mar 27, 2018
Grant date	Mar 27, 2018

Abstract

A receiver system comprising: an input terminal configured to receive input signalling comprising a plurality of antenna-signals, wherein the plurality of antenna-signals each comprise information that corresponds to a first-frequency-bin and a second-frequency-bin. AoA-blocks can determine a first-angle-of-arrival and a second-angle-of-arrival associated with the first- and second-frequency-bins. A first-weighting-determination-block configured to, based on the first-angle-of-arrival and the second-angle-of-arrival, either: set first-weighting-values as values for constructively combining the information that corresponds to the first-frequency-bins of the plurality of antenna-signals; or set first-weighting-values as values for destructively combining the information that corresponds to the first-frequency-bins of the plurality of antenna-signals.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A receiver system comprising:
an input terminal configured to receive input signalling comprising a plurality of antenna-signals, each received at a different antenna, wherein the plurality of antenna-signals each comprise information that corresponds to a first-frequency-bin and a second-frequency-bin;
a first-AoA-block configured to determine a first-angle-of-arrival associated with the first-frequency-bin;
a second-AoA-block configured to determine a second-angle-of-arrival associated with the second-frequency-bin;
a first-weighting-determination-block configured to, based on the first-angle-of-arrival and the second-angle-of-arrival, either:
set first-weighting-values as values for constructively combining the information that corresponds to the first-frequency-bins of the plurality of antenna-signals; or
set first-weighting-values as values for destructively combining the information that corresponds to the first-frequency-bins of the plurality of antenna-signals;

a first-weighting-application-block configured to apply the first-weighting-values to the information that corresponds to the first-frequency-bin in the plurality of antenna-signals in order to provide a weighted-first-frequency-bin-signal;
a second-weighting-determination-block configured to set second-weighting-values as values for constructively combining the information that corresponds to the second-frequency-bins of the plurality of antenna-signals;
a second-weighting-application-block configured to apply the second-weighting-values to the information that corresponds to the second-frequency-bin in the plurality of antenna-signals in order to provide a weighted-second-frequency-bin-signal;
a signal-combining-block configured to combine the weighted-first-frequency-bin-signal and the weighted-second-frequency-bin-signal in order to provide output-signalling.

2. The receiver system of claim 1 , wherein:
the first-AoA-block comprises an outer-first-AoA-block configured to determine an outer-first-angle-of-arrival associated with an outer-subset of the first-frequency-bin;
the first-weighting-determination-block is configured to set the set first-weighting-values based on the outer-first-angle-of-arrival and the second-angle-of-arrival; and
the first-weighting-application-block is configured to apply the first-weighting-values to the information that corresponds to the entire first-frequency-bin in the plurality of antenna-signals in order to provide the weighted-first-frequency-bin-signal.

3. The receiver system of claim 1 , wherein:
the second-AoA-block comprises a middle-second-AoA-block configured to determine the second-angle-of-arrival based on a middle-subset of the second-frequency-bin; and
the second-weighting-application-block is configured to apply the second-weighting-values to the information that corresponds to the entire second-frequency-bin in the plurality of antenna-signals in order to provide the weighted-second-frequency-bin-signal.

4. The receiver system of claim 1 , wherein the first-weighting-determination-block is configured to set first-weighting-values based on whether or not a difference between the first-angle-of-arrival and the second-angle-of-arrival satisfies an outer-threshold-value.

5. The receiver system of claim 1 , wherein:
the first-weighting-values comprise a plurality of first-antenna-weighting-values, one for each of the plurality of antenna-signals;
the second-weighting-values comprise a plurality of second-antenna-weighting-values, one for each of the plurality of antenna-signals.

6. The receiver system of claim 5 , wherein the first-weighting-application-block is configured to:
multiply each of the first-antenna-weighting-values by the information that corresponds to the first-frequency-bin of an associated one of the plurality of antenna-signals in order to provide a plurality of first-antenna-weighted-signals; and
add the plurality of first-antenna-weighted-signals together in order to provide the weighted-first-frequency-bin-signal.

7. The receiver system of claim 5 , wherein the second-weighting-application-block is configured to:
multiply each of the second-antenna-weighting-values by the information that corresponds to the second-frequency-bin of an associated one of the plurality of antenna-signals in order to provide a plurality of second-antenna-weighted-signals; and
add the plurality of second-antenna-weighted-signals together to provide the weighted-second-frequency-bin-signal.

8. The receiver system of claim 1 , wherein the first-weighting-determination-block is configured to set the first-weighting-values based on the second-weighting-values for constructively combining the information that corresponds to the first-frequency-bins of the plurality of antenna-signals.

9. The receiver system of claim 8 , wherein the first-weighting-determination-block is configured to:
determine adjusted-second-weighting-values by modifying the second-weighting-values based on a spatial covariance matrix of the information in the plurality of antenna-signals that corresponds to the first-frequency-bin; and
set the first-weighting-values as the adjusted-second-weighting-values.

10. The receiver system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of antenna-signals also each comprise information that corresponds to a third-frequency-bin, the receiver system further comprising:
a third-AoA-block configured to determine a third-angle-of-arrival associated with the third-frequency-bin;
a third-weighting-determination-block configured to, based on the third-angle-of-arrival and the second-angle-of-arrival, either:
set third-weighting-values as values for constructively combining the information that corresponds to the third-frequency-bins of the plurality of antenna-signals; or
set third-weighting-values as values for destructively combining the information that corresponds to the third-frequency-bins of the plurality of antenna-signals;

a third-weighting-application-block configured to apply the third-weighting-values to the information that corresponds to the third-frequency-bin in the plurality of antenna-signals in order to provide a weighted-third-frequency-bin-signal; and
wherein the signal-combining-block is configured to combine the weighted-first-frequency-bin-signal, the weighted-second-frequency-bin-signal and the weighted-third-frequency-bin-signal in order to provide the output-signalling.

11. The receiver system of claim 10 , wherein the third-AoA-block comprises:
an inner-third-AoA-block configured to determine an inner-third-angle-of-arrival associated with an inner-subset of the third-frequency-bin;
an outer-third-AoA-block configured to determine an outer-third-angle-of-arrival associated with an outer-subset of the third-frequency-bin;
wherein the third-weighting-determination-block is configured to:
determine an outer-third-angle-difference-value as the difference between the outer-third-angle-of-arrival and the second-angle-of-arrival;
if the outer-third-angle-difference-value is less than an outer-threshold-value, then:
set third-weighting-values as values for constructively combining the information that corresponds to the third-frequency-bins of the plurality of antenna-signals;

determine an inner-third-angle-difference-value as the difference between the inner-third-angle-of-arrival and the second-angle-of-arrival;
if the inner-third-angle-difference-value is less than a predetermined proportion of the outer-third-angle-difference-value, then set third-weighting-values as values for constructively combining the information that corresponds to the third-frequency-bins of the plurality of antenna-signals;
if

Assignees

• Nxp Bv

Inventors

• Van Houtum Wim
• Wu Yan

Classifications

• H04B7/086 Primary

  using weights depending on external parameters, e.g. direction of arrival [DOA], predetermined weights or beamforming · CPC title

• H04B7/12

  Frequency diversity · CPC title

• G01S3/48

  the waves arriving at the antennas being continuous or intermittent and the phase difference of signals derived therefrom being measured · CPC title

• G01S3/36

  the separate antennas having differently-oriented directivity characteristics · CPC title

• G01S3/26

  the separate antennas having differently-oriented directivity characteristics · CPC title