WO2000031889A1

WO2000031889A1 - Processing signals of different data rates

Info

Publication number: WO2000031889A1
Application number: PCT/US1999/027593
Authority: WO
Inventors: Avneesh Agrawal; Paul E. Bender; Brian K. Butler; David W. Hansquine
Original assignee: Qualcomm Incorporated
Priority date: 1998-11-23
Filing date: 1999-11-18
Publication date: 2000-06-02
Also published as: IL143147A0; EP1133835A1; NO20012501D0; NO20012501L; CA2351317A1; AU3102200A; KR20010080528A; JP2002530996A; HK1042172A1; CN1333957A

Abstract

A wireless communications system is described. In one embodiment of the invention, a set of demodulation resources demodulates a set of signals that can transmit data at a set of rates. For signals transmitting at lower data rates, a single demodulation resource demodulates an entire signal. For signals transmitting at higher data rates, two or more demodulation resources each demodulate a portion of the signal. Advantageously, the first portion of the higher rate signal is substantially different than the second portion.

Description

PROCESSING SIGNALS OF DIFFERENT DATA RATES

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

I. Field of the Invention

The present invention is directed to wireless communications. More particularly, the present invention is directed to transmitted data at various rates within a wireless communications system.

II. Description of the Related Art

Mobile digital wireless communications have primarily been used to conduct voice communications. With the advent of the World Wide Web, e-mail and computer networking, the need for data based wireless communications has increased exponentially.

Data communications typically require higher data rates, and a greater variety of data rates, than voice based wireless communications. This increased variety of communication rates typically increases the complexity or circuit size of the systems used to process and generate the transmitted data. Increased complexity, or circuit size, typically increases cost.

The present invention is directed to decreasing complexity and size, and therefore the cost, of systems that process data at a variety of rates.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A wireless communications system is described. In one embodiment of the invention, a set of demodulation resources demodulates a set of signals that can transmit data at a set of rates. For signals transmitting at lower data rates, a single demodulation resource demodulates an entire signal. For signals transmitting at higher data rates, two or more demodulation resources each demodulate a portion of the signal. Advantageously, the first portion of the higher rate signal is substantially different than the second portion. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features, objects, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the drawings in which like reference characters identify correspondingly throughout and wherein:

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a wireless communications system configured in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. Fig. 2 shows a block diagram of a reverse link transmit system configured in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 3A illustrates the data frame structure for medium rate data transmission used in one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 3B illustrates the frame format used in one embodiment of the invention for other lower rate frames.

Fig. 4 is a block diagram of a base station configured in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 5 is a block diagram of the demodulation portion of CSM 366 when configured in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. Fig. 6 is a block diagram of a channel element 312 when configured in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 7 is a block diagram of a finger processor 370 when configured in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, and

Fig. 8 is a block diagram of deinterleaver-demod 322 (Fig. 5) when configured in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 9 (2-13) is a block diagram of repetition decovering and symbol drop circuit 516 when configured in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 10 is a block diagram of the symbol drop block when configured in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A wireless communications system is described. The exemplary embodiment is described in the context of the reverse link of a cellular telephone system. While use within this context is advantageous, different embodiments of the invention may be incorporated in different environments or configurations. In general, the various systems described herein may be formed using software controlled processors, integrated circuits or discreet logic. More exotic implementations are also consistent with the use of the present invention including the use of biological or chemical computational systems. Additionally, the data, instructions, commands, information, signals, symbols and chips that may be referenced throughout the application are advantageously represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or a combination thereof. In addition, the blocks shown in each block diagram may represent hardware or method steps.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a wireless communications system configured in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. Subscriber units 10a and 10b interface with base station 14 using digitally modulated radio frequency signals. The reverse link is the signal transmitted from subscriber units 10a and 10b to base station 14, and the forward link is the signal transmitted from base station 14 to subscriber units 10. Base station controller (BSC) 16 and mobile switching center (MSC) 18 provide call and data routing functionality as well as call mobility management. Both the reverse link and the forward link transmit various types of data at various rates. For example, voice based telephone calls are conducted using data rates on the order of ten (10) kilobits per second (Kbits/sec). Data rates on the order of 64 Kbits/sec are used to conduct data communications for applications such as web browsing, and video conferencing. Illustratively, subscriber unit 10a is shown as a cellular telephone and subscriber unit 10b is shown as a laptop computer.

Fig. 2 shows a block diagram of a reverse link transmit system configured in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. As illustrated by Fig. 1, a system typically includes multiple transmit systems 10 like that shown in Fig. 2 (shown as a cellular telephone and computer) transmitting to a base station 14 at any given time. In one embodiment of the invention, some of the subscriber units 10 may be transmitting to base station 14 in accordance techniques other than that shown in Fig. 2. For example, some subscriber units 10 may transmit in accordance with the IS-95 standard, or one of its derivatives, while other subscriber units 10 transmit in accordance with that shown in Fig. 2. A system and method for processing RF signals substantially in accordance with the use of the IS-95 standard is described in US patent 5,103,459 entitled "System and Method for Generating Signal Waveforms in a CDMA Cellular Telephone System" assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference ('459 patent).

Still referring to Fig. 2, during "low data rate mode" data frames are received on input Al, with each data frame containing one of four possible amounts of data. The different amounts of data correspond to different data rates, with a set of different data rates referred to as a "rate set." Lower data rate mode typically corresponds to voice based communication, with the four data rates corresponding to four different amount of voice activity. CRC generator 100.1 adds CRC checksum bits to some of the frames depending on the rate and rate set. Additionally, tail bits of known value (preferably all logic zero) are added by tail bit generator 102.1 to each frame. The number of tail bits is preferably equal to k-1, where k is the depth of the coder. In one embodiment of the invention eight tail bits are added.

In one embodiment of the invention, two different rate sets are available. The different rate sets correspond to two different levels of voice quality, with the rate set having the highest data rates being the one with the highest voice quality. The different rate sets are differentiated by the highest rate (or "rate one") within each set, which is 9.6 Kbits/sec for a first rate set (8K Rate set) and 14.4 Kbits/sec for a second rate set (13K Rate set). The three (3) additional rates within a rate set are referred to as half (1/2) rate, quarter (1/4) rate, and eighth (1/8) rate, based on the approximate fraction of that rate in comparison with rate one. Such lower data rates are similar to those found is the IS-95 and IS-95B wireless telecommunications over-the-air interface standards. To conduct "medium" rate transmissions (i.e. a transmission at a higher rate than those available in low data rate mode) using the system shown in Fig. 2, additional data is input at inputs A2 - A8. In one embodiment of the invention, the total number of inputs Al - A8 used must be an integer power of two. This provides medium rates transmissions approximately equal to two (2) times (rate two), four (4) times (rate four) and eight (8) times (rate eight) the rate one rate of either of the two rate sets (8K and 13K).

This modulation provides six 6 additional medium transmission rates, and a total of fourteen possible rates overall. The fourteen rates can be divided into two sets: one associated with the 13K, and the other associated with the 8K. Together the fourteen data rates are rate eight, rate four, rate two, rate one, half rate, quarter rate and eighth rate for 8K, and rate eight, rate four, rate two, rate one, half rate, quarter rate and eighth rate for 13K. In one embodiment of the invention, a subscriber unit 10 operates in either lower data rate mode or medium data rate mode. However in other embodiments of the invention, a subscriber unit may operation at any available data rate.

The data received on inputs Al -A8 during "medium data rate mode" is time multiplexed by multiplexer 104 into a single data stream that is convolutionally encoded by covolutional encoder 106 at a rate dependent on the data rate as described below. Repeater 108 performs symbol repetition for rate one or lower transmission rates at a rate R (rate one through eighth rate, referred to herein as "lower rates") for either 8K or 13K rate sets, and Walsh cover modulates the lower rate transmissions with a low rate Walsh code W, that is also dependent on the data rate.

Puncture circuit 110 punctures the data stream for data transmissions associated with 13K frames by a puncture factor P. A puncture factor P of 1/3 means that one of every three code symbols is removed from the data stream. This effectively reduces the coding rate performed on the data, but allows more data to be transmitted thereby increasing the data rate. For example, if encoder 106 performs R=l/4 encoding, and the puncture factor P is 1/3, the effective coding rate R_E = 3/8.

Interleaver 112 performs block interleaving on 20 ms blocks of the data being transmitted, whatever the data rate. Thus, the amount of data, or the number of code symbols, interleaved at any given time is dependent on the data transmission rate.

Medium rate repeat circuit 114 performs medium rate repeating according to a medium rate repeat factor R_M. Additionally, for medium rate data transmissions (rates two, four and eight), medium rate Walsh cover circuit 116 modulates the symbols with a medium rate Walsh code W_M that is dependent on the higher data rate being used.

The various parameters used for the system of Fig. 2 in one embodiment of the invention are set forth in Table I.

Table I. Where a Walsh code entry is left blank, no Walsh code modulation is performed. The subscript for each rate (8 or 13) indicates whether the particular data rate is associated with the 8K or 13K rate. As should be apparent, the repeat rate R_L and R_M are adjusted so that the effective symbol rate remains constant. Keeping the effective symbol rate constant simplifies processing of the variable rate data both at the transmit and receive ends. Performing low and medium rate Walsh code modulation at different stages in the processing facilitates differentiating low rate transmission from medium rate transmissions. For both low and medium data rates, the Walsh code modulation further facilitates determining the rate at which the data is being sent.

In one embodiment of the invention, gating circuit 118 performs gating for eighth rate frames in order to conserve power. This gating comprises transmitting only the last half, or 10 ms, of the frame. Additionally, gating circuit 118 may, when the subscriber unit 10 is in a "search mode," gate half rate and quarter rate frames as well. The gating for these frames is preferably performed like that for the eighth rate frames. That is, the first half, or 10 ms, of the frame is blocked. During the gating of any of the frames, the subscriber unit 10 can search for other forward link signals at frequency bands not currently being processed. This facilitates performing hard handoff, which occurs when the subscriber unit switches the frequency band at which it operates (as well as in other instances).

The resulting chip stream from gating circuit 118 is repeated by 2x circuit 120 and the output of 2x circuit 120 is covered by the Walsh traffic channel code Wc,t using an XOR gate 122 and then gain adjusted by traffic channel gain adjust Gt using multiplier or amplifier 124. Additionally, pilot data is multiplexed with control data, repeated by 2x circuit 120, and covered with a control channel Walsh code Wc,c using an XOR gate 122. The pilot channel may also be gain adjusted in some embodiments of the invention. The control data is typically power control commands, which are generated in response to the forward link signal, and indicate whether the transmit power of the channel in the forward link signal allocated for communicating with the terminal should be increased, decreased or held steady. The resulting traffic channel data and control channel data are complex multiplied with an in-phase PN code and a quadrature phase PN code using complex multiplier 126, yielding an in-phase term X, and a quadrature phase term X_Q. The inphase term X_j and the quadrature phase term X_Q are filtered by low pass filters 128, upconverted with an in-phase carrier and a quadrature-phase carrier respectively using mixers 130, summed by summer 132, gain adjusted by amplifier 134, and then transmitted.

Fig. 3 A illustrates the data frame structure for medium rate data transmission used in one embodiment of the invention. As noted above, in one embodiment of the invention, each frame corresponds to a 20 ms duration.

For rate one frames 150, the frame is comprised of data field 160, a CRC checksum field 162, and a tail data field 164. The tail data field 164 is used during encoding to clear the convolutional coder and assists in decoding. The tail data field 160 can be any known data sequence. To fully clear the decoder, the length of the data sequence is one less than the convolution coding depth K. In one embodiment of the invention, the coding depth K is nine (9) and the tail data filed 164 is comprised of eight (8) logic zeros. While the use of a CRC checksum field 162 and a tail data field 164 are preferred, other embodiments of the invention may use different "control" fields.

For rate two frame 152, the frame is comprised of data fields 160.2 and 160.3, CRC fields 162.2 and 162.3 and tail data fields 164.2 and 164.3. In one embodiment of the invention, the format and size of data fields 160.2 and

160.3 corresponds to data field 160.1. Similarly, the format and size of CRC fields 162.2 and 162.3 are the same as that of CRC field 162.1 and the format and size of tail data fields 164.2 and 164.3 are the same as tail data field 164.1.

For rate four frame 152, the frame is comprised of data fields 160.4, 160.5, 160.6 and 160.7, CRC fields 162.4, 162.5, 162.6 and 162.7 and tail data fields 164.4, 164.5, 164.6, and 164.7. In one embodiment of the invention, the format and size of data fields data fields 160.4, 160.5, 160.6 and 160.7 corresponds to data field 160.1 (and therefore to of data fields 160.2 and 160.3). Similarly, the format and size of CRC fields 162.4, 162.5, 162.6 and 162.7 are the same as that of CRC field 162.1 and the format and size of 164.4, 164.5, 164.6, and 164.7 are the same as tail data field 164.1.

For rate eight frames, the frame is comprised of data fields 160.8 - 160.15, CRC fields 162.8 - 162.15 and tail data fields 164.8 - 164.15. In one embodiment of the invention, the format and size of data fields data fields 160.8 - 160.15 corresponds to data field 160.1 (and therefore to of data fields 160.2 and 160.7). Similarly, the format and size of CRC fields 162.8 - 162.15 are the same as that of CRC field 162.1 and the format and size of 164.8 - 164.15 are the same as tail data field 164.1. Having the format and size of the various fields be the same as the corresponding fields in different rate frames facilitates processing of the different rate frames. In particular, circuitry used to generate frames of one rate may be used to generate higher rate frames simply by increasing the rate at which those circuits operate. Allowing the same circuitry to be used for the different rate frames reduces the total amount of circuitry necessary to perform the necessary transmit and receive processing, and therefore reduces the size and cost of any integrated circuit or system operating in accordance with some embodiments of the inventions. Also, the rate of processing is increased because fewer alterations to the processing path are necessary.

Increasing the rate of operation of a circuit can take many forms including reducing the time sharing of the circuit or increasing the duration of operation of the circuit during each frame. Also, while a preferred embodiment of the invention has the corresponding fields of different rate frames the same in both format and size to maximize circuitry reuse, other embodiments of the invention may only have some attributes of the corresponding fields the same or similar.

For example, the size of the corresponding fields may be the same, but not the format. Or, the format can be the same for a portion of the data for some fields, but different rate frames may have additional data in those fields. In other embodiments, the field size and formats may be different, but the order of the fields repeats in the same order with respect to order of other rate frames. In each case, similarities between the fields, size, formatting or both, of the various rate frames facilitates both receive and transmit processing of the data.

In one embodiment of the invention, for data frame processed substantially in accordance with the IS-95 standard, the data field size decreases as the transmission rate decreases, and the number of bits transmitted is decreased by transmit gating. A system and method for formatting lower rate frames is described in US Patent 5,504,773 entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE FORMATING OF DATA FOR TRANSMISSION" assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference. For other lower rate frames, such as some of those listed in Table I, the frame format used in one embodiment of the invention is shown in Fig. 3B. Each frame is comprised of user data 170, CRC data 172 and tail bit data 174. The number of bits of some type of data varies from rate to rate as shown. For the high data rates, the rate one frame format is used for each set of user, CRC, and tail data field in one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 4 is a block diagram of a base station configured in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. RF units 362 receive RF signals via the antennas, and filter, downconvert and digitize the RF signals generating baseband samples. In one embodiment of the invention, each antenna and RF unit are used to provide telephone service to a sector of the coverage area of the base station. Each sector typically has more than one antenna as well for additional diversity. The baseband samples are received by cell cite modem (CSM) 366 which is controlled by control unit 364. CSM is typically an integrated circuit. Control unit 364 is typically a microprocessor controlled by software instructions stored in memory in one embodiment of the invention. CSM 366 demodulates a set of signals contained in the baseband receive samples generating data that is forwarded to data formatter 368. Data formatter 368 places the data in packets containing address information and forwards the packets to a base station controller.

In other embodiments of the invention, separate systems or integrated circuits perform the modulation and demodulation functions performed by CSM 366.

Fig. 5 is a block diagram of the demodulation portion of CSM 366 when configured in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. During typical operation of the exemplary embodiment of the invention provided herein, the signal processing circuit receives and processes reverse link signals generated by transmit systems like that shown in Fig. 2. The circuit is preferably implemented on a single integrated circuit, with the control functionality provided either on the same integrated circuit or externally. The control functionality is typically performed by a microprocessor running software stored in memory. In general, tasks are divided between the microprocessor and the DSPs as described herein; however, alternative embodiments of the invention may allocate tasks differently.

In an exemplary processing, the downconverted baseband receive samples (RX_IQ) are received by interpolator 300 from the external RF unit of Fig. 4. Interpolator 300 generates interpolated samples that are received by searcher subsystem 302 and channel elements 312. Searcher subsystem 302 performs periodic searching for reverse link signals, and provides the results of those searches to DSP controllers 304 and the external control system (not shown). The external controller (microprocessor) may respond by determining which signals should be processed, and assigning a channel element 312 for processing the signal. The assignment is typically performed by providing the time offset of the signal to be processed to the particular channel element 312. In the described embodiment of the invention, each channel element may process multiple multipath instances of a signal, referred to as fingers, where each finger requires a different time offset. Thus, the external controller may provide multiple time offsets to a channel element 312.

In one embodiment of the invention, the receive samples can be received at one of two rates: twice the spreading chip rate (Chipx2) or eight times the spreading chip rate (Chipxδ). When receive samples RX_IQ are received at Chipx2, interpolator 300 interpolates the samples to a rate of eight times the spreading rate (Chipxδ). When samples are received at Chipxδ, interpolator 300 is bypassed. This allows the system to operate within differently configured system that provide samples at either chipxδ or chipx2.

Digital signal processor (DSP) 304.1 interfaces with channel elements 312.0 - 312.5 and DSP 304.2 interfaces with channel elements 312.6 - 312.11. Niterbi decoder 316.0 interfaces with deinterleavers 322.0 - 322.3 via medium rate Walsh (W decover 323.0-323.2. Niterbi decoder 316.1 interfaces with deinterleavers 322.4 - 322.7 via medium rate Walsh decover 323.4 - 323.7. Niterbi decoder 316.3 interfaces with deinterleavers 322.8 - 322.11 via medium rate Walsh decover 323.8 -323.11. Channel elements 312 are coupled to deinterleaver- 322 through multiply-accumulate (MAC) 320. In alternative embodiments of the invention, different numbers of DSPs may be used, including one DSP.

In one embodiment of the invention, channel elements 312 performs various functions including despreading and medium rate Walsh decovering for medium rate transmissions. Additionally, channel element 312 performs symbol dropping on a portion of the data processed for medium rate transmissions. Preferably, the particular amount and portion of data that is dropped depends on the transmission rate of the data being processing and control input from the corresponding DSP 304.

During an exemplary processing by the demodulator system of Fig. 4, DSP 304 receive instructions to process incoming signals that are transmitted at either medium data rates or low data rates and assigns one channel element 312 for processing the signal if it is lower than a particular rate, and assigns two or more channel elements for processing the signal if the signal is transmitted at a data rate above a particular rate. In one embodiment of the invention, if the signal is transmitted at a low data rate or the medium data rates of rate one or rate two, the microprocessor assigns one channel element 312 to process the signal.

If the signal is transmitted at the medium data rates of rate four or rate eight, DSP 304 assigns more than one channel element 312 to processing the signal. In particular, if the signal is transmitted at the medium data rate of rate four, DSP 304 assigns two channel elements 312 to processing the signal, and if the signal is transmitted at the medium data rate of rate eight, microprocessor assigns four channel elements 312 for processing the signal. Where multiple channel elements are assigned, each channel element processes only a portion of the incoming signals. For example, with two channel elements assigned, each channel element processes one half of the signal. With four channel elements, each channel element processes one fourth of the signal. Additionally, in one embodiment of the invention DSP 304 or the microprocessor assigns a channel element type (CE_TYPE) to each channel element assigned for processing the higher rate signals (rate four and rate eight in one embodiment of the invention.) The particular portion of the signal processed by a particular channel is determined by the channel element type, one example of which is described in greater detail below.

After a signal is processed by channel elements 312, the resulting despread chip data is accumulated over a symbol duration by MAC 320, which preferably performs the accumulation for each channel element in a time-shared manner. Additionally, the MAC calculates the cross product of the pilot traffic channel, and sums the results over the set of fingers being processed by a particular channel element. The resulting accumulated symbol data is forwarded to a deinterleaver 322, which performs time-shared deinterleaving and demodulation for channel elements. The deinterleaver 322 deinterleaves each 20 ms frame of data received, which for different rate corresponds to different amounts of data. For the higher data rates, the symbol dropping performed by channel elements 312 reduces the amount of data processed by each deinterleaver 322. This reduces the necessary size of the deinterleaver 322 memory, which substantially reduces the overall circuit area of the demodulator system. Medium rate Walsh decoverers perform low rate Walsh decovering and forward the decovered soft decision data to Niterbi decoders 316. For medium rate transmissions, Niterbi decoders 322 decode the soft decision data at the transmission rate specified. For lower rate transmission, Niterbi decoders 316 decode at all the four data rates, with the actual data rate used determined by error and probability values generated therewith. One method of performing rate determination is described in US Patent 5,566,206 entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING DATA RATE OF TRANSMITTED VARIABLE RATE DATA IN A COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVER" assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference. The output data is then made available for additional processing, which in the exemplary embodiment of the invention involves forwarding to base station controller 14 of Fig. 1.

As should be apparent in the described embodiment, a channel element 312, a deinterleaver 322, the medium rate Walsh decover 323 and the time-shared MAC 320 form a channel resource. As described throughout the application, the channel resource can be used alone to process some medium and lower rate signals, or in combination with other channel resources to process other medium rate signals (the highest rate medium rate signals).

Fig. 6 is a block diagram of a channel element 312 when configured in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. The RX_IQ samples are received by four finger processors 570. Each finger processor processes one instance of the particular signal assigned to the associated channel element at a time offset provided from the control system (connection from control system not shown). The resulting demodulated symbols from finger processors 570 are forwarded to MAC 320 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a block diagram of a finger processor 400 when configured in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. Antenna select 500 selects one set of Rx samples from the set of receive samples provided. In accordance with the base station described above, six sets of Rx samples are provided which correspond to two antennas for each sector. The antenna selected is determined by a searcher 306 which searches each incoming set of Rx samples for multipath signals, along with the controller, which generates selection signals provided to antenna select 500.

The selected Rx samples are forwarded to decimator 502 which decimates the Rx samples down to chipx2. Phase rotator 504 performs an initial phase adjustment of the Rx samples and despreader 505 demodulates the signal using a pseudo noise (PN) spreading code from PN generator 506. The particular code PN generator 506 generates, and the particular time offset, is determined by timing and control unit 508, which in turn is controlled by a DSP unit 304.1 based on the search results received by that DSP unit 304.2 from a searcher 306. Despreader-decover 505 generates three output sets for the signal being processed by despreading using the PNI and PNQ codes and the control and traffic channel Walsh codes (W_{c τ} and W_{c c}). Each output set is comprised of an in-phase component and a quadrature-phase component. The three output sets correspond to an on time despreading, an early despreading, and a late despreading. The on-time despreading is the best estimate of the time offset of the signal, and in one embodiment of the invention the early despreading is offset _ the duration of a spreading chip before the on-time despreading, and the late despreading is offset _ the duration of a spreading chip after the on-time despreading.

2x accumulator 510 accumulates the despread data over two spreading chips and provides the accumulated on-time data to medium rate repetition decovering circuit 512. The accumulated early and late despread data is forwarded directly to a DSP 304. The DSP 304 advances or retards the processing of the signal in response to the early and late despread data via control input to timing and control circuit 507.

DSP 304 also provides phase rotation information to phase accumulator 511 which provides phase rotation data to rotator 504.

The on-time accumulated data is received by medium rate repetition decovering circuit 512. Medium rate repetition decovering circuit 512 accumulates the despread data over a number of symbols that depends on rate at which the data is being transmitted. In particular, the despread data is accumulated over R_M symbols as set forth in Table I depending on the rate at which the data is transmitted. Additionally, if the despread data is being transmitted at a rate two, rate four or rate eight, medium rate repetition decovering circuit 512 decovers the despread data with the corresponding medium rate Walsh code W_M as set forth in Table I. The resulting decovered symbols are forwarded to symbol dropper 516.

In one embodiment of the invention, symbol dropper 516 drops, or "gates," a portion of the decovered symbols received. In particular, symbol dropper 516 drops a portion of the symbols received for higher data rate transmissions, and passes all the symbols received for lower rate transmissions. The amount of symbols that are dropped by symbols dropper 516 depends on the data rate of the signal being processed. The portion of symbols that are dropped depends on the channel element type CE_TYPE assigned to the channel element 312 in which the finger processor 570 is located.

In the exemplary embodiment of the invention, symbol dropper drops one half (1/2) of the symbols received for rate four transmissions, and three-fourths (3/4) of the symbols received for rate eight transmissions. That is, one half (1/2) of the symbols are passes for rate four transmissions, and one quarter (1/4) of the symbols are passed for rate eight transmissions.

The particular symbols that are passed and dropped by symbol dropper 516 are determined by the channel element type CE_TYPE assigned to the corresponding channel element 312. For example, for rate four transmissions, the channel element type CE_TYPE could indicate whether the finger should processes the even or odd symbols. For rate eight transmissions, the channel element type CE_TYPE could indicate which of every four symbols (i.e. the first, second, third or fourth) should be passed.

Thus, to process a rate four or rate eight medium rate signal, a DSP 304 assigns different channel element types CE_TYPE to a set of channel elements 312, and then assigns that set of channel elements to process the same medium rate signal. The result is that each channel element 312 processes a different portion of the same signal, and the set of channel elements 312 together process the entire signal. The resulting different portions of the data can be combined later in the processing yielding the entire signal.

As described in greater detail below, by dropping a portion of the signal before that signal is deinterleaved, the size of the deinterleaver for each channel element can be reduced. The deinterleaver typically requires substantial amounts of memory, and memory takes up significant amounts of circuit area on the integrated circuit. Thus, the circuit area necessary to implement the integrated circuit is reduced. The despread symbols are forwarded to data buffer 514. Data buffer 514 stores 128 eight (8) bit symbol values for the in-phase and quadrature phase portions of the signal being processed. The despread symbols are delayed within data buffer 514 to eliminate the time skew between the various fingers of the signal being processed within the channel element. MAC unit 402 receives the deskewed symbols and sums the data from the four fingers generating combined despread symbols.

Fig. 8 is a block diagram of deinterleaver 322 (Fig. 5) and a medium rate Walsh code decover 323 when configured in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. Combined despread symbols are received by deinterleaver RAM 600. In one embodiment of the invention deinterleaver RAM is 1536x4 bits, which is sufficient to store 1536 four bit symbols. 1536 symbols represents one fourth of the symbols received in a 20 ms frame transmitted at rate eight, or one half the symbols received in a 20 ms frame transmitted at rate four. Additionally, 1536 symbols represents the total number of symbols in a 20 ms frames for rate two or below, given the medium rate symbol repetition R_M. In another embodiment of the invention, the interleaver is 1536x8 to allow double buffering. Under the control of deinterleaver address control 601, the symbols stored in deinterleaver are read out in deinterleaved fashion to XOR gates 602. XOR gates 602 decover the symbols with the four lower rate Walsh codes (W_1/8, W_1/4, W_1/2 and W_FULL). The resulting decovered symbols are accumulated by accumulators 604 over the number of Walsh chips in the corresponding low rate Walsh codes. The decovered symbols, along with an additional copy of the deinterleaved symbols are forwarded to the corresponding Niterbi decoder 316. In another embodiment of the invention a single XOR gate and accumulator are used in a time-shared fashion. For lower rate transmissions, the Niterbi decoder 316 decodes at all four data rates and determines the correct data rate based on any errors detected during the decoding.

Modulation with the low rate Walsh codes facilitates the determination of the rate that is transmitted, because different rates are modulated with codes that are orthogonal to one another. Thus, decovering with a low rate Walsh code does not correspond to the actual transmission rate of the frame should yield a low energy value compared to the energy level of the corrected decovered symbols.

For medium rate transmissions, the uncovered symbols are decoded by the Niterbi decoder 316 at the corresponding data rate as configured by the microprocessor.

Fig. 9 (2-13) is a block diagram of repetition decovering and symbol drop circuit 516 when configured in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. The data being processed is received within latches 710 (multi-bit latches) on in-phase input DATAJ and quadrature phase input DATA_Q. The outputs of latches 710 are applied to the B inputs of adder /subtracters 705, and also form the outputs of the medium rate repetition decovering circuit 512. The A inputs of adder /sub tractors 705 receive the on time despread chip data from 2x accumulator 510. Adder /subtracters 705 add or subtract the inputs A and B based on the signal applied to control the input +/-.

Walsh code generator 700, generates the medium rate Walsh code W _M in accordance with the transmission rate of the data being processed. The resulting Walsh code is applied to the control input of adder /subtractors 705 specifying whether an add or subtract operation should be performed. Together adder /subtractors 705 and latches 710 act as an accumulator where the input is either added or subtracted from the accumulated value based on the logic level of the medium rate Walsh code W_M. The effect is that the despread data is demodulated by the medium rate Walsh code, and the resulting demodulated data is accumulated over the length of the medium rate Walsh code. Accumulator clear generator 712 resets the value of latches 710 each medium rate repeat value R_M the for the repeat value R_M. The resulting medium rate decovered symbols are forwarded to symbol dropper 516. Various alternative methods for performing applying the Walsh code should be apparent.

Fig. 10 is a block diagram of the symbol drop block when configured in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. The decovered symbols (DSYMBOLJ & DSYMBOL_Q) are received by latches 810 from medium rate repetition decovering circuit 512. Symbol select enable generator 800 receives the channel element type CE_TYPE and generates a symbol enable signal that is applied to the enable inputs of latches 810.

Symbol select enable generator 800 provides an exemplary circuit and method for generating the symbol enable signal based on the channel element type CE_TYPE. A two bit counter value which increments with each new symbol (CNT(0:1)) is applied to one input of comparators 802. AND gates may also be used in place of comparators. The other input of comparators 802 receives a hardwired binary number as shown. The outputs of comparators 802 are applied to multiplexer 804, which is controlled by CE_TYPE. The output of multiplexer 804 is received by one input of OR gate 805, while the other input of OR gate 805 receives a logic high when CE TYPE = 6 or 7.

In one embodiment of the invention, the channel element type CEJTYPE can be any value from 0 to 7. Values 0 - 3 correspond to channel element types that are used for rate eight transmissions. Values 4 and 5 correspond to channel element types that are used for rate four transmissions. Values 6 and 7 correspond to channel element types that are used for rate two or below transmissions.

As described above, four channel elements are used to process a signal transmitted at rate eight. For the four CE_TYPEs 0 - 3, the symbol enable signal is asserted once every four symbol times, where the particular symbol time at which the signal is asserted is different for each CE TYPE 0 -3. For example, for CEJTYPE 0, the symbol enable signal is asserted during the first of every four symbol times. For CEJTYPE 1, the symbol enable signal is asserted during the second of every four symbol times. Similarly, for the two CEJTYPEs 4 and 5, the symbol enable signal is asserted once every other symbol time, where the particular symbol time is different for each CEJTYPE. For CEJTYPEs 6 and 7, the symbol enable signal is asserted each symbol time. Thus, to processes a signal transmitted at a higher transmission rate, a microprocessor assigns a set of channel elements to processes the signal, and then assigns each channel element a different channel element type CEJTYPE. Each channel element responds by processing a different portion of the signal, with the sum of all the portions of the signal processed equaling the entire signal.

By having each channel element process only a portion of the signal, the capability of each channel element, and each channel element resource, is reduced. This reduces the total circuit area of the integrated circuit used to implement the demodulator, and therefore increases efficiency and reduces cost. In contrast, a system that configures each channel resource with the ability to process the high rate transmission will have resources go unused during lower rate transmissions. By providing channel resources that can operate together on the same transmission, overall usage and efficiency is increased. Also, since in many CDMA systems the total communications capability is limited, when the number of higher rate communications conducted is increased, the number of lower rate communications conducted is reduced. Thus, by having a demodulation system where a number of lower rate demodulation resources can be combined to demodulate a higher rate transmission, the capacity and allocation of demodulation resources more closely matches the transmission capability of the CDMA system. Matching resources with capability further increases efficiency. WE CLAIM:

Claims

1. A demodulator for demodulating a higher rate signal and a lower rate signal comprising: first channel resource for demodulating substantially all of said lower rate signal and for demodulating a first portion of said higher rate signal; second channel resource for demodulating a second portion of said higher rate signal, wherein said first portion is substantially different from said second portion.

2. The demodulator of claim 1 wherein said first channel resource is comprised of a first symbol dropper for selecting said first portion of said higher rate signal.

3. The demodulator of claim 2 wherein said second channel resource is comprised of a second symbol dropper for selecting said second portion of said higher rate signal.

4. The demodulator of claim 2 further comprising first deinterleaver memory having a size sufficient to store a full frame of said lower rate signal, and said first portion of said higher rate signal.

5. The demodulator of claim 4 further comprising second deinterleaver memory having a size sufficient to store said second portion of said higher rate frame.

6. The demodulator of claim 5 wherein said second deinterleaver memory also has a size sufficient to store a full frame of said lower rate signal.

7. The demodulator of claim 1 wherein said first portion and said second portion have substantially the same format.

8. The demodulator of claim 7 wherein said first portion contains first user data and first control data in a first order and said second portion contains second user data and second control data in a second order, wherein said first order and said second order are substantially the same.

9. The demodulator of claim 8 wherein said first user data has a format substantially similar to said first portion and said second portion.

10. A demodulator comprising: first circuit for demodulating a first portion of a lower rate signal and a second portion of a higher rate signal; and second circuit for demodulating a third portion of said higher rate signal, wherein said first portion is larger than said second portion and said third portion, and said second portion and said third portion are substantially different.

11. The demodulator of claim 10 wherein said first portion is all of said lower rate signal, and said second portion is part of said higher rate signal.

12. A method for demodulating a higher rate signal and a lower rate signal comprising the steps of: a) demodulating substantially all of said lower rate signal; b) demodulating a first portion of said higher rate signal; c) demodulating a second portion of said higher rate signal, wherein said first portion is substantially different from said second portion.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein step b) is comprised of the step of dropping said second portion of said higher rate signal.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein step c) is comprised of the step of dropping said first portion of said higher rate signal.

15. The method of claim 13 further comprising the steps of: storing a full frame of said lower rate signal; deinterleaving said full frame of said lower rate signal; storing said first portion of said higher rate signal; and deinterleaving said first portion of said higher rate signal.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising the steps of: storing said second portion of said higher rate signal; and deinterleaving said second portion of said higher rate signal.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein said first portion and said second portion have substantially the same data format.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein said first portion contains first user data and first control data in a first order and said second portion contains second user data and second control data in a second order, wherein said first order and said second order are substantially the same.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein said first portion has a format substantially similar to said first portion and said second portion.

20. A receive processing system comprising: a first receive processing system for processing one lower rate signal in a first mode and for processing a first portion of a higher rate signal in a second mode; a second receive processing system for processing one lower rate signal in said first mode and for processing a second portion of said higher rate signal is a second mode.

21. The receive system of claim 20 wherein said first receive processing system is comprised of a first symbol dropper for selecting said first portion of said higher rate signal.

22. The receive system of claim 21 wherein said second receive processing system is comprised of a second symbol dropper for selecting said second portion of said higher rate signal.

23. The receive system of claim 21 wherein said first receive processing system is comprised of: a first deinterleaver memory having a size that is less than that necessary to store said first portion of said higher rate signal and said second portion of said higher rate signal.

24. The receive system of claim 23 wherein said second receive processing system is comprised of: a second deinterleaver memory having a size that is less than that necessary to store said first portion of said higher rate signal and said second portion of said higher rate signal.

25. The receive system of claim 21 wherein said second deinterleaver memory has a size sufficient to store a full frame of said lower rate signal.

26. The receive system of claim 21 wherein said first portion and said second portion have substantially the same format.

27. The receive system of claim 21 wherein said first portion contains first user data and first control data in a first order and said second portion contains second user data and second control data in a second order, wherein said first order and said second order are substantially the same.