# Patent

## Title
Variable rate modulator

## Abstract

Digital data signals at a variable input frequency are converted by a numerically controlled oscillator and an interpolator to a signal at a fixed output sampling frequency. The conversion of the variable input frequency to the fixed output sampling frequency may be by a factor other than an integer. The interpolated digital data signals at the fixed output sampling frequency are then modulated into a pair of trigonometric signals at a programmable carrier frequency, one signal having a cosine function and the other signal having a sine function. The modulated signals at the fixed output sampling frequency are then combined to create a modulated signal at a carrier frequency determined by the frequency of the sine and cosine signals. The modulated signal is sampled at the fixed output sampling frequency and converted to a corresponding analog signal using a digital-to-analog converter.

## Background
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)
This application is a continuation of allowed application Ser. No. 10/272,759 filed Oct. 17, 2002 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,674,823, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/570,238 filed May 12, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,498,823, issued Dec. 24, 2002, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/948,101 filed Oct. 9, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,144,712, issued Nov. 7, 2000.
This application contains subject matter that is related to U.S. Pat. No. 6,421,396, issued Jul. 16, 2002.


This invention relates to a system including a variable rate modulator for (1) varying the rate at which signals are modulated in accordance with variations in the rate of introduction of digital data to the system and (2) for processing the modulated signals to provide output signals at a fixed sampling frequency.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In recent years, a number of different applications have arisen in which digital signals representing data are processed and the processed signals are then converted to analog signals. For example, such applications have included the transmission of television signals through coaxial lines to homes. In such systems, the digital data is converted to analog signals and the analog signals are then transmitted through coaxial lines to homes of subscribers. Other applications are in microwave links and satellite communications.
In a number of the different applications involving the processing of digital data and the conversion of the processed digital data to analog signals, the digital data is provided at a variable input frequency or rate and the analog signals are provided at a fixed sampling frequency different from the variable input frequency or rate. For example, the digital data may be provided in the range of approximately 0.1-20 megabits per second and the analog signals may be sampled at a fixed frequency in the range of approximately 100-200 megahertz.
In the above example, the variable rate digital signals in the range of 0.1-20 megabits/second are converted to a modulated analog intermediate frequency signals having a fixed sampling frequency. For example, the digital signals in the range of 0.1-20 megabits/second may be converted to signals at a fixed sampling frequency of approximately 100-200 megahertz. The signals at the sampling frequency are then modulated onto a programmable carrier frequency in the range of approximately 5-65 MHz. at the fixed sampling frequency of approximately 100-200 megahertz.
As will be seen from the above discussion, a considerable range of frequencies (e.g. 0.1-20 megabits/second) have to be converted to a single fixed frequency (e.g. 120 megahertz). This is not easy. If the conversion is not accurate, the signals at the fixed sampling frequency jitter. When the signals illustratively provide television information, the jitter produces a significant deterioration in the quality of the television image.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
This invention provides a system for, and method of, converting digital data signals variable through a wide range of frequencies or rates into signals at a fixed sampling frequency. This conversion occurs without any jitter in the signals at the fixed sampling frequency. When the system of this invention is illustratively used to provide television images, the television images have a high resolution.
In one embodiment of the invention, digital data signals at a variable input frequency are converted by a numerically controlled oscillator and an interpolator to a signal at a fixed sampling frequency. The conversion of the variable input frequency to the fixed output sampling frequency may be by a factor other than an integer.
The interpolated digital data signals at the output sampling frequency are then modulated onto a pair of trigonometric signals at a programmable carrier frequency, one signal having a cosine function and the other signal having a sine function.
The modulated pair of trigonometrically related signals at the fixed sampling frequency are then combined to create a modulated signal at a carrier frequency determined by the frequency of the sine and cosine signals. The modulated signal is sampled at the fixed sampling frequency and converted to a corresponding analog signal using a digital-to-analog converter.



BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the drawings:
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram, primarily in block form, of a system constituting an embodiment of the prior art;
FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram, primarily in block form, of a portion of the system similar to that shown in FIG. 1 and shows a significant difference between the system of this invention and the system of the prior art;
FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram, primarily in block form, of certain features included in the system constituting one embodiment of this invention to provide the significant difference between the system of this invention and the system of the prior art;
FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram, primarily in block form, of other features included in the system constituting one embodiment of this invention to provide the significant difference between the system of this invention and the system of the prior art; and
FIG. 5 shows a curve illustrating how the system of this invention provides a linear interpolation between successive values introduced to the system, thereby enhancing the resolution by the system of this invention of the image represented by the data signals introduced to the system.



DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 shows a system, generally indicated at 10, of the prior art for transmitting digital data at a variable frequency, for processing the digital data and for converting the digital data at a fixed sampling frequency to an analog signal. In the system 10, the digital data is provided at the variable frequency on a line 12. This variable frequency may vary through a range such as approximately 0.1-20 megabits per second. Several processing functions are then performed on the data in a well known manner and are indicated by a stage 16 designated as front-end processing. For example, these processing functions may include a data scrambler, a forward error correction encoder and a stage which inserts a preamble in the data stream to achieve synchronization at the receiver.
The signals from the stage 16 are then introduced to a stage 18 which may be constructed in a well known manner. The stage 18 is designated as QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation)/QPSK (quadrature phase shift keying) symbol mapping. The stage 18 operates upon the digital data signals from the stage 16 to produce signals having various amplitude levels, such as ±1 or ±3. Such signals with such amplitude levels are produced in such environments as coaxial television lines. Pairs of signals at such amplitude levels are produced by the stage 18. The signals from the stage 18 are respectively designated as I0 & Q0 
The output signals from the symbol mapping stage 18 on lines 20 and 22 are respectively introduced to square root Nyquist filters 24 and 26 which are well known in the art. The square root Nyquist filters constitute low pass filters. The signals from the stages 24 and 26, designated as I1 & Q1, respectively, are then respectively introduced to interpolation filters 28 and 30 which may also be constructed in a well known manner in the prior art embodiment shown in FIG. 1. Each of the filters 28 and 30 may constitute a plurality of stages each multiplying, by an integer, the sampling frequency of the signals introduced to it. For example, each of the filters 28 and 30 may constitute P stages each operative to multiply by the integer 2 the sampling frequency of the signals introduced to it.
Thus, the interpolation filters 28 and 30 may multiply the sampling frequency of the signals by a value M*2P. In the above equation, M may constitute an integer by which one of the stages in each of the interpolation filters 28 and 30 multiplies the sampling frequency. The interpolation filters 28 and 30 respectively provide signals designated as I1 & Q2.
The signals from the interpolation filters 28 and 30, respectively designated I2 & Q2, are respectively introduced to multipliers 32 and 34. The multipliers also receive signals from a direct digital frequency synthesizer (DDFS) 36 which provides cosine and sine signals at a frequency which may be considered to constitute a carrier frequency. The cosine and sine signals introduced to the multipliers 32 and 34 from the synthesizer 36 are respectively multiplied with the signals I2 & Q2 from the filters 28 and 30. The multipliers 32 and 34 respectively modulate the I2 & Q2 signals from the filters 28 and 30 onto the carrier frequency of the signals from the frequency synthesizer 36. This carrier frequency is programmable and may be in the range of approximately 5-65 megahertz.
The modulated signals from the multipliers 32 and 34 pass to an adder 38. The resultant signal from the adder 38 is converted to an analog signal in a digital-to-analog converter 40 and the analog signal is introduced to an output line 42. As will be seen from the subsequent discussion, the signals from the
frequency synthesizer 36 are at a fixed sampling frequency and the signals from the adder 38 are sampled at this fixed sampling frequency to produce an analog signal.
As previously indicated, the data signal on the line 12 has a variable input frequency. The signals from the interpolation filters 28 and 30 preferably have a fixed output sampling frequency. As will be apparent, the interpolation filters 28 and 30 cannot provide a fixed output sampling frequency when the signals on the lines 20 and 22 have a variable input frequency and the interpolation filters 28 and 30 provide sampling frequency multiplication by integer numbers. This has accordingly provided serious operational limitations in the prior art. For example, it has introduced jitters into the signals at the output sampling frequency from the interpolate filters 28 and 30 and thus has produced jitters at the output line 42. When the signals at the output line 42 constitute television signals, the television signals have accordingly been blurred.
This invention provides a system for, and methods of, maintaining the frequency of the signals introduced to the stages 32 and 34 fixed even when the rate or frequency of the data signals 12 varies over a range as high as approximately 0.1-20 megabits per second. The system of this invention is generally indicated at 48 in FIG. 2. The system 48 is identical to the system 10 of FIG. 1 except that it includes interpolation filters 50 and 52 each of which includes a plurality of stages and each of which is intended to be substituted for a corresponding one of the filters 28 and 30 in FIG. 1.
All of the stages in the filters 50 and 52 in the filters 50 and 52 (except the last stage) interpolate by an integer such as a value of 2. For example, there may be stages each of which interpolates by a value of 2 or 3. The last stage interpolates by a value which may or may not be an integer. This value may be represented by M/N where M and N are integers. By providing an interpolation ratio of M/N, the filters 50 and 52 can provide signals at the desired fixed output sampling frequency such as 120 megahertz even when the input sampling frequency can vary in the range of approximately 0.1-20 megahertz.
The last interpolation stage in the system of this invention is indicated generally at 67 and 105 in FIG. 3. It includes a numerically controlled oscillator 64. The oscillator 64 may be considered to be the digital equivalent of a voltage controlled oscillator in that it provides oscillatory signals at a variable frequency dependent upon digital inputs to the oscillator. The construction and operation of numerically controlled oscillators such as the oscillator 64 are well known in the art.
The numerically controlled oscillator 64 receives several inputs. For example, the numerically controlled oscillator 64 receives a clock signal at a fixed frequency on a line 62 such as a signal from the crystal oscillator 66 (FIGS. 1 and 2). The frequency of the signal from the oscillator 66 can be multiplied by a phase lock loop such as the phase lock loop 68 (FIGS. 1 and 2) well known in the art. The signals at the multiplied frequency from the phase lock loop 68 are introduced to the direct digital frequency synthesizer (DDFS) 36 and to the digital-to-analog converter 40 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The frequency of such signals may be represented as FSAMPLE—CLK.
The numerically controlled oscillator 64 also receives input signals from a line 70. These signals may be designated as a frequency control word (FCW). The line 70 provides control signals FCW so that output clock signals can be provided on a line 72 at a substantially constant frequency represented by the FCW and corresponds to the baud or symbol rate of the input data 80. This frequency may be designated as FBCLK.
Output signals are also provided from the numerically controlled oscillator 64 on a line 74. The output signals on the line 74 represent a value μ greater than or equal to 0 and less than 1. This value will be described in detail subsequently. For the time being, it may be considered to represent the phase offset between the sample clock on the line 62 and the FBCLK signal on the line 72. The value μ changes on every sample clock cycle.
FBCLK on the line 72 may be represented as 



  
    
      
        
          F
          BCLK
        
        =
        
          
            FCW
            
              2
              B
            
          
          ×
          
            F
            
              SAMPLE_CLK
              ⁢
              
                 
              
            
          
          ⁢
          where
        
      
    
    
      
        (
        1
        )
      
    
  




B=a fixed number such as twenty four (24) bits.
Equation 1 may be converted to 



  
    
      
        
          F
          BCLK
        
        =
        
          
            M
            N
          
          ×
          
            F
            SAMPLE_CLK
          
          ⁢
          
             
          
          ⁢
          where
        
      
    
    
      
        (
        2
        )
      
    
  




M may be considered as equal to FCW and
N may be considered as equal to 2B.
The value M=FCW may be then represented as 



  
    
      
        M
        =
        
          
            
              (
              
                F
                BCLK
              
              )
            
            ⁢
            
              (
              N
              )
            
          
          
            F
            SAMPLE_CLK
          
        
      
    
    
      
        (
        3
        )
      
    
  




In this way, the operation of the numerically controlled oscillator 64 is varied so that the proper value of FCW on line 70 is provided to obtain the value of FBCLK at the output of the oscillator.
FIG. 4 illustrates an example of the interpolation filter 105 in FIG. 3. The output from the last, by way of example, interpolate-by-2 stage 106 in FIG. 3 is introduced at 80 to an adder 82 and the input terminal of a register 84 in FIG. 4. The register 84 is clocked by the output signal FBCLK on the line 72 from the numerically controlled oscillator 64 in FIG. 3. The negative value of the output from the register 84 is also introduced to the adder 82 in FIG. 4.
The adder 82 accordingly provides an output represented as

x(n)−x(n−1) where  (4)

x(n) represents the current input sample on the line 80 and x(n−1) represents the previous input sample on such line. The value of x(n)−x(n−1) is then multiplied in the multiplier 86 to provide a value of μ[x(n)−x(n−1)].
As previously indicated, μ is a value greater than or equal to 0 and less than 1. It constitutes the difference in phase between the sample clock 62 and the BCLK signal on the line 72 in FIG. 3. For example, the significance of μ may be seen from the following illustrative relationship between the fixed output sample clock signal on the line 62 and the variable rate clock signal FBCLK on the line 72:

F72=1⁄4F62 where  (6)

F72=the frequency of the clock on the line 72 and F62=the frequency of the sample clock on the line 62. In successive clock signals, μ will then be 0, 1⁄4, 1⁄2, 3⁄4, 0, 1⁄4, 1⁄2, etc. The μ signal on the line 74 and the output from the adder 82 are multiplied in the multiplier 86 in FIG. 4. The output from the multiplier 86 passes to an adder 90 which also receives the output x(n−1) from the register 84 to provide an output on a line 92 of

y(n)=x(n−1)+μ[x(n)−x(n−1)] where  (5)

    
    
        Y(n) is an interpolated value between x(n) and x(n−1).
    
    


FIG. 5 illustrates at 100, 102, and 104 the data signals on the line 80. FIG. 5 also illustrates at 101a, 101b and 101c the signals interpolated between the input signals 100 and 102 and at 103a, 103b and 103c the signals interpolated between the input signals 102 and 104. The interpolated signals 101a, 101b and 101c and the interpolated signals 103a, 103b and 103c are provided when μ=1⁄4, 1⁄2, 3⁄4 as discussed above.
Although this invention has been disclosed and illustrated with reference to particular embodiments, the principles involved are susceptible for use in numerous other embodiments which will be apparent to persons of ordinary skill in the art. The invention is, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the appended claims.

## Claims

1. A signal processing system for converting a variable frequency input signal to a fixed frequency output signal comprising:
means for generating a first clock signal at a first clock frequency; 
means for receiving a frequency control signal that corresponds to a second frequency; 
means for generating a second clock signal at the second frequency as a function of said frequency control signal; 
means for generating a phase offset signal representing an offset in phase between the first clock signal and the second clock signal; and 
means for converting the variable frequency input signal to an interpolated signal at a fixed sampling frequency in accordance with said phase offset signal, wherein the interpolated signal is interpolated by a value of M/N where M and N are integers.

2. The signal processing system of claim 1 further comprising:
means for modulating the interpolated signal onto trigonometric signals; and 
means for converting the modulated signal to an analog signal.

3. The signal processing system of claim 1 wherein the means for converting a variable frequency input signal to an interpolated signal at a fixed sampling frequency in accordance with said phase offset signal comprises an interpolator that interpolates the variable frequency input signal by a non-integer value.

4. The signal processing system of claim 1 wherein the means for converting a variable frequency input signal to an interpolated signal at a fixed sampling frequency in accordance with said phase offset signal comprises an interpolator that interpolates the variable frequency input signal by an integer value.

5. A signal processing system for converting a variable frequency input signal to an output signal having a fixed output frequency, comprising:
means for generating a clock signal at a clock frequency equal to baud rate of said variable frequency input signal as a function of a frequency control signal; 
means for generating a phase offset signal representing an offset in phase between a recipient clock signal and the clock signal; and 
means for converting the variable frequency input signal to an interpolated signal at a fixed sampling frequency in accordance with said phase offset signal, wherein the interpolated signal is interpolated by a value of M/N where N and N are integers.

6. A signal processing system, comprising:
means for providing a first clock signal at a first clock frequency; 
oscillator means, responsive to a frequency control signal and the first clock signal for providing an output clock signal at a fixed second clock frequency and a phase offset signal representing an offset in phase between the first clock signal and the second clock signal, and 
interpolation means for offsetting a pair of variable frequency input signals in accordance with the phase offset signal to provide an interpolated signal at a fixed output sampling frequency, wherein the interpolated signal is interpolated by a value of M/N where M and N are integers.

7. The signal processing system of claim 6 wherein the phase offset signal is greater than or equal to zero and less than one.

8. The signal processing system of claim 6 wherein the interpolation means interpolates the variable frequency input signal by a non-integer value.

9. The signal processing system of claim 6 wherein the interpolation means interpolates the variable frequency input signal by an integer value.

10. The signal processing system of claim 6 further comprising a modulator for modulating the interpolated signal onto a trigonometric signal at a carrier frequency.

11. The signal processing system of claim 10 further comprising a digital to analog converter for converting the modulated signal to an analog signal.

12. The signal processing system of claim 6 wherein said interpolation means includes a register, responsive to said second clock signal, to provide said pair of variable frequency input signals.