7 184 466

7,184,466 Title:

Radio frequency data conveyance system including configurable integrated circuits

A data conveyance integrated system that can be utilized in a base station and/or end user devices in a wireless communication system. The integrated system includes first and second integrated circuits (ICs). The first IC includes a first serial-deserial (SERDES) module, a transmit radio frequency module, and a receive radio frequency module. The transmit and receive radio frequency modules provide the wireless communication between the base stations and end user devices. The second IC includes a second SERDES module and a programmable logic fabric programmed to implement one or more wireless communication functions. Accordingly, the programmable logic fabric generates outbound digital signals from data (e.g., video, audio, control, or text data) provided to the device, and/or processes inbound digital signals to recapture the originally transmitted data. Thus, base stations and/or end user devices within a wireless communication system can be readily reconfigured.

What is claimed is:

1. A data conveyance system comprises: first integrated circuit that includes: transmit radio frequency module operably coupled to convert outbound digital signals intooutbound radio frequency (RF) signals and to transmit the outbound RF signals; receive radio frequency module operably coupled to receive inbound RF signals and to convert the inbound RF signals into inbound digital signals; and first serial-deserial(SERDES) module operably coupled to convert the inbound digital signals into an inbound serial bit stream and to receive an outbound serial bit stream and to convert the outbound serial bit stream into the outbound digital signals; second integratedcircuit that includes: second SERDES module operably coupled to convert the inbound serial bit stream back into the inbound digital signals and to convert the outbound digital signals into the outbound serial bit stream; and programmable logic fabricoperably coupled to receive the inbound digital signals and to manipulate the inbound digital signals based on programming instructions that configure at least a portion of the programmable logic fabric to perform a desired inbound RF function and togenerate the outbound digital signals based on the programming instructions that configure at least a second portion of the programmable logic fabric to perform a desired outbound RF function.

2. A wireless communication system comprising: a first integrated circuit comprising: a configurable radio frequency (RF) receiver for receiving inbound RF signals from a wireless communication link and for outputting inbound analog signals; an analog-to-digital converter for converting the inbound analog signals to first digital signals; and a first serializer/deserializer circuit operably coupled to convert the first digital signals into a serial bit stream; a second integrated circuitcoupled to the first integrated circuit, the second integrated circuit comprising: a second serializer/deserializer circuit operably coupled to convert the serial bit stream into second digital signals; and a programmable logic fabric for receiving andprocessing the second digital signals.

3. The wireless communication system of claim 2 further comprising: a control module coupled to the first serializer/deserializer circuit for receiving control information from the second integrated circuit; and receive configurationinformation generated by the control module for configuring at least one operational parameter of the configurable radio frequency receiver.

4. The wireless communication system of claim 3, wherein the at least one operational parameter is selected from a group consisting of: a carrier frequency of the inbound RF signals, a conversion ratio between the carrier frequency and anintermediate frequency, a selection of the intermediate frequency, a bandwidth of a receive channel, a filter coefficient, and a power setting.

5. The wireless communication system of claim 2 wherein the configurable radio frequency receiver produces multi-bit samples or delta modulation data that represent the inbound RF signals.

6. The wireless communication system of claim 2 wherein the first integrated circuit further comprises: a configurable channel equalizer coupled to the analog-to-digital converter, the configurable channel equalizer operably configured tocompensate for undesirable frequency characteristics of the wireless communication link for inbound RF signals; and a configurable forward error correction module coupled to the configurable channel equalizer for providing error correction for the firstdigital signals.

7. The wireless communication system of claim 2 wherein the first integrated circuit further comprises: a receive interface, having an adjustable amplification stage, coupled between an antenna and the configurable radio frequency receiver.

8. The wireless communication system of claim 2 wherein the first integrated circuit further comprises: a configurable echo cancellation module operably coupled to the configurable radio frequency receiver to provide echo cancellation to theconfigurable radio frequency receiver such that RF signals transmitted via a configurable RF transmitter are substantially canceled.

9. The wireless communication system of claim 2 wherein the first integrated circuit further comprises: a synthesizer coupled to the configurable radio frequency receiver for generating signaling data.

10. The wireless communication system of claim 2 wherein the second integrated circuit further comprises a digital signal processor module coupled to a software defined link controller, the software defined link controller coupled to the secondserializer/deserializer circuit.

11. The wireless communication system of claim 2 wherein the inbound analog signals represent I and Q values of a radio signal.

12. The wireless communication system of claim 2 wherein the configurable radio frequency receiver is tapped for monitoring or testing performance.

13. A wireless communication system comprising: a first integrated circuit comprising: a first serializer/deserializer circuit operably coupled to receive a serial bit stream and to convert the serial bit stream into first digital signals; adigital-to-analog converter for converting the first digital signals to outbound analog signals; and a configurable radio frequency transmitter for receiving the outbound analog signals and transmitting the outbound analog signals over a wirelesscommunication link; and a second integrated circuit coupled to the first integrated circuit, the second integrated circuit comprising: a programmable logic fabric for producing second digital signals; and a second serializer/deserializer circuitoperably coupled to convert the second digital signals into the serial bit stream.

14. The wireless communication system of claim 13 wherein the first integrated circuit further comprises: a control module coupled to the first serializer/deserializer circuit for receiving control information from the second integratedcircuit; and transmit configuration information generated by the control module for configuring at least one operational parameter of the configurable radio frequency transmitter.

15. The wireless communication system of claim 14, wherein the at least one operational parameter is selected from a group consisting of: a transmit carrier frequency, an intermediate frequency to transmit carrier frequency ratio, a transmitpower level, and a filter coefficient.

16. The wireless communication system of claim 14 wherein the first integrated circuit further comprises: a synthesizer coupled between the configurable radio frequency transmitter and the control module for generating transmit transmitsignaling data.

17. The wireless communication system of claim 13 wherein the outbound analog signals represent I and Q values of a radio signal.

18. The wireless communication system of claim 13 wherein the first integrated circuit further comprises: a transmit interface, having an adjustable amplification stage, coupled between an antenna and the configurable radio frequencytransmitter for providing a power level to a transmit antenna.

19. A method for wireless transmission of data from a base station to a end-user device comprising: generating, at least in part, first digital data by a programmable logic device; converting the first digital data into a serial bit stream bya first serializer/deserializer circuit; receiving the serial bit stream by a second serializer/deserializer circuit via a wired communications link; converting the serial bit stream into outbound digital signals; receiving the outbound digitalsignals by a transmit radio frequency module; and transmitting radio frequency signals based on the outbound digital signals by the transmit radio frequency module.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein a wireless communication standard used for transmitting the radio frequency signals is selected from a group consisting of: Bluetooth, 802.11b, Local Multipoint Distribution System (LMDS), Microwave MultipointDistribution System (MMDS), 802.16.3, hiperLAN, 802.11a, CDMA, FDMA, TDMA, PCS, and GSM.