Patent ID: 7006578

Claim:
A method of transmitting data using a modulated signal, the method comprising: using a signal constellation arranged in first, second and third concentric circles to represent the data for transmitting the modulated signal, where the second circle has a greater diameter than the first circle and the third circle has a greater diameter than the second circle; arranging a number X of signal points along each of the first and second circles where X is an even number; arranging a number Y of signal points along the third circle where Y is twice X; grouping all of the signal points on the first and second circles into first sets of four where each of the first sets includes two adjacent signal points from each of the first and second circles; grouping all of the signal points on the third circle into second sets of four where each of the second sets includes four adjacent signal points and; each of the first and second sets adapted to represent a two bit binary number based on which signal point of the four signal points in each set is transmitted.