Preamble Design for On-the-Fly Data Rate Detection

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current wireless communication systems face inefficiency in data rate detection, particularly in multi-rate wireless transceivers, where the receiver must synchronize with incoming frames without prior knowledge of the data rate, leading to inefficiencies due to fixed data rate transmission and inefficient rate switching mechanisms.

Innovation Solution

A system and method that utilize a set of preambles and preamble processing to encode and detect data transmission rates within the header part of frames, allowing on-the-fly data rate detection, using a modulation format common across all rates, with preambles and start frame delimiters specifically designed for different data rate groups, enabling efficient rate determination in receivers.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If rate switching occurs only after the initial part of the frame is transmitted at the lowest available rate, then the receiver can reliably receive the frame, but the transmission time increases significantly leading to gross inefficiency

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveframe reception reliabilityVSAvoidtransmission time
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by embedding rate information in the preamble before the actual data transmission begins. The receiver detects the data rate from the preamble and configures its demodulator accordingly before the frame payload is transmitted, eliminating the need to wait for the entire frame to be received at low rate before switching to high rate processing.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Measurement precision

If the receiver waits until the header part is fully received before determining the data rate, then the receiver can accurately identify the transmission rate, but the payload transmission is delayed

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata rate detection accuracyVSAvoidpayload transmission delay
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent embeds rate information in the preamble, which is transmitted before the payload. The receiver extracts the data rate from the preamble during the header reception phase, enabling early configuration of the demodulator at the correct rate before the payload begins, thus eliminating delay.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent segments the frame into distinct components: a preamble containing rate information and a payload containing data. This segmentation allows the receiver to process rate detection independently in the preamble phase, separating the detection function from the data transmission function and enabling parallel processing.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

3Productivity

If multiple data rates are supported with different preambles, then the receiver can efficiently detect and synchronize at the correct rate, but the preamble processing complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata rate detection efficiencyVSAvoidpreamble processing complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent divides the preamble processing into separate correlation operations for different data rates. Each data rate has its own dedicated correlation path that processes the received signal independently. This segmentation allows parallel processing of multiple rates without requiring complex sequential analysis, improving efficiency while managing complexity through modular architecture.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentEP2659594B1Preamble design and processing method for on-the-fly, frame-by-frame air data rate detection in wireless receivers
Publication Date: 2019.03.27 MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INC
  • EP2659594B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP2659594B1 patent drawingFigure 4
  • EP2659594B1 patent drawingFigure 5~3

AI summary

In a system and method for wireless communication with a transmitter and a receiver, the transmitter is operable to wirelessly transmit digital information to the receiver with a plurality of data transmission rates using a modulation format, wherein the digital information is transmitted using a transmission frame including a header part and a payload part, and the header part comprises a preamble, wherein the modulation format is the same for all data transmission rates and wherein the data transmission rate is at least encoded into the preamble of the frame, and wherein the receiver is configured to determine the data transmission rate when receiving the preamble.