This application claims the benefit of Chinese Patent Application No. 201610600898.5, filed on Jul. 27, 2016, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present invention generally relates to wireless communication technology, and more particularly to multimode receiving devices, multimode transmitting devices, and associated methods.
With the development of Internet of Things (IOT) technology, more and more intelligent pieces of equipment are being connected to networks. Mesh networks have garnered increasing attention due to its dynamic extensibility, higher connectivity, higher reliability, and higher stability, as compared to other approaches. Intelligent equipment as terminals may initially be connected to a mesh network, and then can be connected to other networks of the same or different types, in order to achieve remote management, timing control, parameter regulation, and other functions.
Reference may now be made in detail to particular embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. While the invention may be described in conjunction with the preferred embodiments, it may be understood that they are not intended to limit the invention to these embodiments. On the contrary, the invention is intended to cover alternatives, modifications and equivalents that may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Furthermore, in the following detailed description of the present invention, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it may be readily apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, processes, components, structures, and circuits have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the present invention.
A mesh network is a network architecture that includes a network controller and a plurality of node devices. There may be one or more network controllers, and a plurality of node devices. The controller can be used for communication scheduling between the nodes and for communication routes between the nodes and external network. A node can access the external network via the network controller. Typically, only one controller controls the network at any given time. In some approaches, the controller can implement the mesh network by broadcasting, under various protocols. For example, the mesh network can be based on the Bluetooth standard 4.0 or Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) standard.
In the mesh network, data may be forwarded via adjacent nodes, instead of via direct connections over relatively long distances, which is known as multi-hop communication. The node device can forward a received data packet in order to implement transfer of data. In this way, a node can be used as a relay node to pass messages. Throughout the network, the nodes can forward data based on random delay. However, when using the Bluetooth protocol as a communication interface, the wireless interface may have a limited transmission distance (e.g., less than about 20 meters). When one hop distance is too large, the node devices of the mesh network cannot communicate normally, or may be susceptible to interference. In particular embodiments, reception sensitivity can be improved as compared to other approaches.
In one embodiment, a multimode receiving device configured to receive a standard Bluetooth data packet and a physical layer data packet with enhanced performance, can include: (i) a receiving circuit configured to convert a received radio frequency signal to a baseband modulated signal; (ii) a demodulation circuit configured to select a demodulation scheme that conforms to a Bluetooth standard or one of a plurality of despread demodulation schemes, in order to demodulate the baseband modulated signal; and (iii) the plurality of despread demodulation schemes being configured to correspond to a plurality of predetermined spread-spectrum modulation schemes.
In one embodiment, a multimode transmitting device being configured to transmit a standard Bluetooth data packet and a physical layer data packet of enhanced performance, can include: (i) a modulation circuit configured to modulate a Bluetooth baseband signal by selecting a modulation scheme conforming to a Bluetooth standard or one of a plurality of spread-spectrum modulation schemes, and to output a baseband modulated signal; and (ii) a receiving circuit configured to convert the baseband modulated signal to a radio frequency signal.
In one embodiment, a multimode transceiving method can include: (i) modulating a Bluetooth baseband signal by selecting a modulation scheme conforming to a Bluetooth standard or one of a plurality of spread-spectrum modulation schemes and sending a baseband modulated signal; and (ii) demodulating a received baseband modulated signal by selecting a demodulation scheme conforming to a Bluetooth standard or one of a plurality of despread demodulation schemes, where the plurality of despread demodulation schemes correspond to a plurality of predetermined spread-spectrum modulation schemes.
Referring now to
In addition, control multimode transmitting device 1 and multimode receiving device 2 may only transceive the standard Bluetooth data packet or the physical layer data packet with enhanced performance. For example, the physical layer with enhanced performance is a spread-spectrum modulated data packet. In one example, the Bluetooth baseband signal can be converted to a spread signal with its symbol rate being the same as the chip rate of the Bluetooth baseband signal by applying a spreading sequence with the same rate. Chips of the spread signals that correspond to different spread-spectrum modulation schemes may have different symbol amounts, where the symbol amount is referred to as the spreading length.
Referring now to
In operation process 3, the mesh network nodes can convert the standard Bluetooth data packet to a data packet with its spreading length of 5, and may then forward the converted data packet. In operation process 4, the mesh network nodes can convert the data packet with its spreading length of 3 to a standard Bluetooth data packet, and then forward the standard Bluetooth data packet. In operation process 5, the mesh network nodes can convert the data packet with its spreading length of 5 to a standard Bluetooth data packet, and may then forward the standard Bluetooth data packet. In this way, the conversion between the standard Bluetooth data packet and the physical layer data packet with enhanced performance can be realized, in order to set up a mesh network compatible with Bluetooth standards on the basis of a physical layer communication interface with enhanced performance.
Referring now to
Spread spectrum is a technology that uses information processing to improve transmission performance. The purpose and function of this technology is to spread the frequency spectrum of a signal before information transmission, and to obtain strong anti-interference ability and high transmission rate by using the wide frequency spectrum. In the implementation of this technology, spread spectrum is usually divided into the following approaches: direct sequence (DS) spread spectrum, frequency hopping (FH) spread spectrum, time hopping (TH) spread spectrum, and Chirp spread spectrum, and so on. In the DS spread spectrum example, a spreading sequence with a higher chip rate can process the signal to be transmitted (e.g., the baseband modulated signal), so as to spread the frequency of the baseband modulated signal.
In addition, at the receiving terminal, the same spreading sequence can be used to despread the transmitted signal, in order to recover the information. In this particular example, modulation circuit 12 can use a plurality of spread spectrum modulation schemes. For example, a spread spectrum modulation scheme using spreading sequences of different chip rates or different types can be employed. In this fashion, the mesh network nodes can transmit according to a Bluetooth standard, or other methods with enhanced performance at the physical layer.
Referring now to
In one example, the spreading sequence can be a pseudorandom sequence. Also, sequences with a predetermined length can be used to replace 1 and 0 of the Bluetooth baseband signal. Because the original one bit is replaced by several bits in this case, it may also be considered as a spreading operation in which different spread-spectrum modulation schemes correspond to sequences of different lengths. In one example, two-bit sequences [1 0] and [0 1] can be used to replace 1 and 0 of the Bluetooth baseband signal, respectively. In another example, three-bit sequences [1 0 0] and [1 1 0] may be used to replace 1 and 0 of the Bluetooth baseband signal, respectively. In such manner, the spread signal obtained by using sequences with predetermined lengths may have a wider bandwidth. That is to say, in particular embodiments, “spread spectrum” operation may not be limited to employment of a pseudorandom sequence, but can also utilize several bits to replace one bit, in order to form a new data sequence.
Referring now to
In addition, the symbol rate of the sequence 5 can be the same as the chip rate of the Bluetooth baseband signal, where each chip includes 5 symbols, so the length of the sequence 5 is 5 times the Bluetooth baseband signal. Correspondingly, the chip rate of sequence 5 can be 1/5 of the Bluetooth baseband signal sequence. That is to say, a plurality of spread-spectrum modulation schemes may adopt spreading sequences with the same rate to convert a Bluetooth baseband signal to a spread signal with its symbol rate being the same as that of the Bluetooth baseband signal. Chips of the spread signals corresponding to different spread-spectrum modulation schemes may have different symbol amounts. The spread spectrum example of
Similar to
The signal obtained in the manner as described above may have the same rate as the Bluetooth baseband signal, so it can be modulated and further transmitted by modulation schemes suitable for Bluetooth baseband signals. Therefore, the physical layer performance of the data packet can be enhanced, and may be compatible with aspects of the Bluetooth system. Better physical layer performance can be achieved at the lowest cost instead of significant modification of the Bluetooth transmitting circuit or modulation schemes. In addition, since the spread signal may have the same rate as the Bluetooth baseband signal, and the standard Bluetooth device may not receive the data packet of such type, the mesh network may have better security. For example, modulation circuit 12 can be implemented by an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) with different function modules, or by a general digital signal processor (DSP) with predetermined program instructions.
Referring now to
Demodulation circuit 22 can include despread demodulators 22a, demodulator 22b, mode matching correlator 22c, and demodulated signal selector 22d. Each of despread demodulators 22a may have a corresponding despread demodulation scheme, which can be used to demodulate the baseband modulated signal and output a demodulated signal based on the corresponding despread demodulation scheme. Demodulator 22b can demodulate the baseband modulated signal and output a corresponding demodulated signal based on a demodulation scheme conforming to the Bluetooth standard. A plurality of demodulated signals may be provided to demodulated signal selector 22d. Mode matching correlator 22c can be used to acquire a correlation signal by associating a portion of a Bluetooth data packet access code (e.g., the first 16 bits of the access code) and a corresponding spreading sequence of a plurality of spread-spectrum modulation schemes with the baseband modulated signal, and to output a mode selection signal based on the correlation signal.
The mode selection signal can be used to indicate which scheme is employed for demodulation (e.g., which one of a plurality of input of demodulated signal selector 22d is taken as output). For example, mode matching correlator 22c can determine the reception timeout when the predetermined demodulated signal is not received in a predetermined time, and then end the reception state, and output a mode selection signal to indicate the reception timeout. Demodulated signal selector 22d can select and output one of the demodulated signals based on the mode selection signal. When the baseband modulated signal is spread spectrum modulated by a spreading sequence, the baseband modulated signal may be associated with a corresponding spreading sequence to obtain a correlation signal with its amplitude larger than a predetermined threshold. In this way, which scheme to be employed for demodulation can be determined according to the amplitudes of different spreading sequences and sequences related to the received baseband modulated signal at the receiving terminal.
Referring now to
Referring now to
The examples of
Correspondingly, timeout calculation module TIMER can be set in mode matching correlator 22c for monitoring the reception timeout. For example, the demodulation circuit can be implemented by an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) with different function modules, or by a general digital signal processor (DSP) with predetermined program instructions. In this particular example, the Bluetooth standard is a Bluetooth Low Energy standard. In particular embodiments, a Bluetooth baseband signal can be modulated by selecting one of a plurality of spread-spectrum modulation schemes in order to obtain a physical layer data packet with enhanced performance. In addition, the physical layer data packet with enhanced performance can be received by selecting a demodulation method based on a spreading sequence and a correlation signal of a received signal. In this way, compatibility with the Bluetooth standard can be achieved, as well as improving the communication sensitivity of a mesh network.
Referring now to
At S520, a received baseband modulated signal can be demodulated by selecting a demodulation scheme conforming to a Bluetooth standard, or one of a plurality of despread demodulation schemes. The despread demodulation schemes can correspond to a plurality of predetermined spread-spectrum modulation schemes. For example, a correlation signal can be acquired by associating a portion of a Bluetooth data packet access code and a corresponding spreading sequence of a plurality of spread-spectrum modulation schemes with the baseband modulated signal, and determining a demodulation scheme based on the correlation signal.
In this way, a Bluetooth baseband signal can be modulated by selecting one of a plurality of spread-spectrum modulation schemes to obtain a physical layer data packet with enhanced performance. The physical layer data packet with enhanced performance can be received based on a spreading sequence. Thus, compatibility with the Bluetooth standard can be achieved, as well as improvement in the communication sensitivity of a mesh network.
The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with modifications as are suited to particular use(s) contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto and their equivalents.
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