Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04B—TRANSMISSION
  • H04B10/00—Transmission systems employing electromagnetic waves other than radio-waves, e.g. infrared, visible or ultraviolet light, or employing corpuscular radiation, e.g. quantum communication
  • H04B10/11—Arrangements specific to free-space transmission, i.e. transmission through air or vacuum
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04B—TRANSMISSION
  • H04B1/00—Details of transmission systems, not covered by a single one of groups H04B3/00 - H04B13/00; Details of transmission systems not characterised by the medium used for transmission
  • H04B1/38—Transceivers, i.e. devices in which transmitter and receiver form a structural unit and in which at least one part is used for functions of transmitting and receiving
  • H04B1/40—Circuits
  • H04B1/403—Circuits using the same oscillator for generating both the transmitter frequency and the receiver local oscillator frequency
  • H04B1/406—Circuits using the same oscillator for generating both the transmitter frequency and the receiver local oscillator frequency with more than one transmission mode, e.g. analog and digital modes

Definitions

• This invention relates generally to infrared (IR) and radio frequency (RF)
• IR Infrared
• RF Radio Frequency
• a user may use a magnetic or "smart" card to activate a payphone and enable it to receive Ir or RF
• the preferred system and device should include means for receiving both Ir and RF signals. It is another object that the device include a dual mode signal conditioning means for
• the preferred device should include transmit switch means for switching a transmit module between Ir transmission and RF transmission
• FIGS 1A and IB are functional schematics of electronic appliances
• FIG. 2 is a functional schematic of a preferred embodiment of the Dual
• FIG. 3 is a functional schematic of a preferred embodiment of the Dual
• Figure 4 is a functional schematic depicting the ability of an Infrared- transmitting appliance to communicate with a Radio frequency-transmitting appliance
• Figure 5 is a functional schematic of a preferred embodiment of an
• Figures 1A and IB are functional schematics of electronic appliances
• appliance with IR communications 10 comprises a communications controller 14 that is in communication with an IR transceiver 16. It should be appreciated that the
• communications controller 14 may be a stand-alone circuit, or it may be integrated into
• the typical IR transceiver 16 comprises an IR transmitter 18 for
• the IR transmitter 18 and leaving the IR receiver 22 are conditioned and processed for or
• the typical RF transceiver 26 comprises an RR transmitter 28 for transmitting RF signals 30 to another appliance or device, and an RF receiver 32 for
• the RF transmitter 28 and leaving the RF receiver 32 are conditioned and processed for or
• receivers 22 utilize the same core high frequency bipolar silicon (HF-Si) or silicon- germanium (SiGe) technologies that are utilized in the manufacture of RF receivers 32.
• HF-Si high frequency bipolar silicon
• SiGe silicon- germanium
• FIG 2 is a functional schematic of a preferred embodiment of the Dual Mode Receive/Infrared Transmit (“DMR-IRX”) Transceiver 34 of the present invention.
• the DMR-IRX transceiver 34 comprises an IR transmitter 18 (of the conventional design)
• DMR Dual Mode Receiver
• the DMR 36 may be crafted from a single semiconductor substrate using HF-Si or SiGe technology.
• the DMR 36 circuit could be designed to contain a mixed signal analog/digital
• receiver-demodulator capable of receiving and conditioning a received RF signal 30.
• either substrate technology can function as an IR photodiode receiver (see above). Consequently, the DMR 36 can process the detected RF or IR signals 30 and 20
• the DMSP 38 could be further configured to provide separate outputs for the received IR and RF signals, respectively, or there could be one single output (as
• IR transmitter 18 and single DMR 36 presented here is only one example; it might be
• Figure 3 depicts a device that is closely related to the DMR-IRX transceiver 34 of Figure 2.
• Figure 3 is a functional schematic of a preferred embodiment of the Dual Mode Receive/Radio Frequency Transmit (“DMR-RFX”) Transceiver 40 of
• the DMR-RFX transceiver 40 is a DMR-IRX transceiver 34 that has one or more RF transmitters 28 for transmitting RF signals 30
• Figure 4 is a functional schematic depicting the ability of an Infrared-
• the DMR-IRX appliance 42 is a portable computer, telephone, personal digital assistant or other
• the DMR-IRX appliance 42 is capable of transmitting
• the DMR-RFX appliance 44 is an electronic device of the type described above that includes a DMR-
• the DMR-RFX appliance 44 therefore, can transmit RF signals 30 and receive both IR signals 20 and RF
• the DMR-IRX appliance 42 by transmitting IR signals 20 is fully capable of communicating with the DMR-RFX appliance 44, which is limited to transmitting only RF signals 30. This capability provides unprecedented functionality that
• Figure 5 provides yet another embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 5 is a functional schematic of a preferred embodiment of an appliance 46 equipped with the Dual Mode Receive/Dual Mode Transmit (“DMR-DMX”) Transceiver 48 of the
• the DMR-DMX appliance 46 includes a DMR-DMX
• this unique transceiver 48 comprises that DMR 36 for receiving both IR
• transceiver 48 includes a Dual Mode Transmit Module 50.
• Module 50 is, essentially, at least one each IR transmitter 18 and RF transmitter 28,
• the two transmitters 18 and 28 are preferably coupled to an IR/RF transmit
• the IR/RF transmit switch 52 allows the outgoing signal coming from the Dual Mode Signal Conditioner 54 to be routed to either the IR transmitter 18 or the RF
• appliance 46 can selectively communicate with IR-based, RF-based or dual-mode external
• appliance 46 This flexibility permits the appliance 46 to be adaptable to any and all IR and RF networks and systems, and in particular, it permits the appliance to capitalize on the strengths of each signal transmission technology, as appropriate.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Electromagnetism (AREA)
• Optical Communication System (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (1)

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ID=22434237

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (2)

Families Citing this family (9)

Family Cites Families (3)

• 1999
  • 1999-08-03 WO PCT/US1999/017639 patent/WO2000008783A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 1999-08-03 EP EP99938980A patent/EP1072110A1/de not_active Withdrawn

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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