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`UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
`
`United States Patent and Trademark Office
`
`June 01, 2004
`
`REC'D 01 JUL 2004
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`Sonos Ex. 1005, p. 1
` Sonos v. Google
` IPR2021-00964
`
`

`

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`

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`

`

`M&C Folio: USP290023
`
`1
`
`Communications Systems and Methods
`
`This invention generally relates to networks of communications devices, in particular
`
`ultra wideband (UWB) communications devices.
`
`Techniques for UWB communication developed from radar and other military
`
`applications, and pioneering work was carried out by Dr G.F. Ross, as described in
`
`US3728632. Ultra-wideband communications systems employ very short pulses of
`electromagnetic radiation (impulses) with short rise and fall times, resulting in a
`
`spectrum with a very wide bandwidth. Some systems employ direct excitation of an
`antenna with such a pulse which then radiates with its characteristic impulse or step
`response (depending upon the excitation). Such systems are referred to as "carrier free"
`since the resulting rf emission lacks any well-defined carrier frequency. However other
`UWB systems radiate one or a few cycles of a high frequency carrier and thus it is
`possible to define a meaningful centre frequency and/or phase despite the large signal
`
`bandwidth.' The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defines UWB as a
`
`—10dB bandwidth of at least 25% of a centre (or average) frequency or a bandwidth of
`at least 1.5GHz; the US DARPA definition is similar but refers to a —20dB bandwidth.
`Such formal definitions are useful and clearly differentiates UWB systems from
`conventional narrow and wideband systems but the techniques described in this
`specification are not limited to systems falling within this precise definition and may be
`employed with similar systems employing very short pulses of electromagnetic
`radiation.
`
`UWB communications systems have a number of advantages over conventional
`systems. Broadly speaking, the very large bandwidth facilitates very high data rate
`communications and since pulses of radiation are employed the average transmit power
`(and also power consumption) may be kept low even though the power in each pulse
`may be relatively large. Also, since the power in each pulse is spread over a large
`
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`2
`bandwidth the power per unit frequency may be very low indeed, allowing UWB
`systems to coexist with other spectrum users and, in military applications, providing a
`low probability of intercept. The short pulses also make UWB communications systems
`relatively unsusceptible to multipath effects since multiple reflections can in general be
`resolved. Finally UWB systems lend themselves to a substantially all-digital
`implementation, with consequent cost savings and other advantages.
`
`Figure 1a shows a typical UWB transceiver 100. This comprises an transmit/receive
`antenna 102 with a characteristic impulse response indicated by bandpass filter (BPF)
`104 (although in some instances a bandpass filter may be explicitly included), couples
`to a transmit/receive switch 106.
`
`The transmit chain comprises an impulse generator 108 modulatable by a baseband
`transmit data input 110, and an antenna driver 112. The driver may be omitted since
`only a small output voltage swing is generally required. One of a number of modulation
`techniques may be employed, typically either OOK (on-off keying i.e. transmitting or
`not transmitting a pulse), M-ary amplitude shift keying (pulse amplitude modulation), or
`PPM (pulse position modulation i.e. dithering the pulse position). Typically the
`transmitted pulse has a duration of <ins and may have a bandwidth of the order of
`gigahertz.
`
`The receive chain typically comprises a low noise amplifier (LNA) and automatic gain
`control (AGC) stage 114 followed by a correlator or matched filter (MF) 116, matched
`to the received pulse shape so that it outputs an impulse when presented with rf energy
`having the correct (matching) pulse shape. The output of MF 116 is generally digitised
`by an analogue-to-digital convertor (ADC) 118 and then presented to a (digital or
`software-based) variable gain threshold circuit 120, the output of which comprises the
`received data. The skilled person will understand that forward error correction (FEC)
`such as block error coding and other baseband processing may also be employed, but
`such techniques are well-known and conventional and hence these is omitted for clarity.
`
`Figure lb shows one example of a carrier-based UWB transmitter 122, as described in
`more detail in US 6,026,125 (hereby incorporated by reference). This form of
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`3
`transmitter allows the UWB transmission centre frequency and bandwidth to be
`controlled and, because it is carrier-based, allows the use of frequency and phase as well
`
`as amplitude and position modulation. Thus, for example, QAM (quadrature amplitude
`modulation) or M-ary PSK (phase shift keying) may be employed.
`
`Referring to Figure lb, an oscillator 124 generates a high frequency carrier which is
`gated by a mixer 126 which, in effect, acts as a high speed switch. A second input to
`
`the mixer is provided by an impulse generator 128, filtered by an (optional) bandpass
`
`filter 130. The amplitude of the filtered impulse determines the time for which the
`mixer diodes are forward biased and hence the effective pulse width and bandwidth of
`the UWB signal at the output of the mixer. The bandwidth of the UWB signal is
`
`similarly also determined by the bandwidth of filter 130. The centre frequency and
`instantaneous phase of the UWB signal is determined by oscillator 124, and may be
`
`modulated by a data input 132. An example of a transmitter with a centre frequency of
`
`1.5GHz and a bandwidth of 400MHz is described in US 6,026,125. Pulse to pulse
`
`coherency can be achieved by phase locking the impulse generator to the oscillator.
`
`The output of mixer 126 is processed by a bandpass filter 134 to reject out-of-band
`frequencies and undesirable mixer products, optionally attenuated by a digitally
`controlled rf attenuator 136 to allow additional amplitude modulation, and then passed
`to a wideband power amplifier 138 such as a MMIC (monolithic microwave integrated
`circuit), and transmit antenna 140. The power amplifier may be gated on and off in
`synchrony with the impulses from generator 128, as described in US'125, to reduce
`power consumption.
`
`Figure lc shows a similar transmitter to that of Figure lb, in which like elements have
`like reference numerals. The transmitter of Figure lc is, broadly speaking, a special
`case of the transmitter of Figure lb in which the oscillator frequency has been set to
`zero. The output of oscillator 124 of Figure lb is effectively a dc level which serves to
`keep mixer 126 always on, so these elements are omitted (and the impulse generator or
`its output is modulated).
`
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`4
`Figure ld shows an alternative carrier-based UWB transmitter 142, also described in
`US6,026,125. Again like elements to those of Figure lb are shown by like reference
`
`numerals.
`
`In the arrangement of Figure ld a time gating circuit 144 gates the output of oscillator
`124 under control of a timing signal 146. The pulse width of this timing signal
`determines the instantaneous UWB signal bandwidth. Thus the transmitted signal
`UWB bandwidth may be adjusted by adjusting the width of this pulse.
`
`Ultra-wideband receivers suitable for use with the UWB transmitters of Figures lb to ld
`
`are described in US 5,901,172. These receivers use tunnel diode-based detectors to
`
`enable single pulse detection at high speeds (several megabits per second) with reduced
`vulnerability to in-band interference. Broadly speaking a tunnel diode is switched
`between active and inactive modes, charge stored in the diode being discharged during
`
`its inactive mode. The tunnel diode acts, in effect, as a time-gated matched filter, and
`
`the correlation operation is synchronised to the incoming pulses.
`
`Figure le shows another example of a known UWB transmitter 148, as described for
`example in US 6,304,623 (hereby incorporated by reference). In Figure le a pulser 150
`generates an rf pulse for transmission by antenna 152 under control of a timing signal
`154 provided by a precision timing generator 156, itself controlled by a stable timebase
`158. A code generator 160 receives a reference clock from the timing generator and
`provides pseudo-random time offset commands to the timing generator for dithering the
`transmitter pulse positions. This has the effect of spreading and flattening the comb-
`like spectrum which would otherwise be produced by regular, narrow pulses (in some
`systems amplitude modulation may be employed for a similar effect).
`
`Figure if shows a corresponding receiver 162, also described in US'623. This uses a
`similar timing generator 164, timebase 166 and code generator 168 (generating the same
`pseudo-random sequence), but the timebase 166 is locked to the received signal by a
`tracking loop filter 170. The timing signal output of timing generator 164 drives a
`template generator 172 which outputs a template signal matching the transmitted UWB
`signal received by a receive antenna 174. A correlator/sampler 176 and accumulator
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`5
`178 samples and correlates the received signal with the template, integrating over an
`aperture time of the correlator to produce an output which at the end of an integration
`cycle is compared with a reference by a detector 180 to determine whether a one or a
`zero has been received.
`
`Figure 1 g shows another UWB transceiver 182 employing spread spectrum-type coding
`techniques. A similar transceiver is described in more detail in US 6,400,754 the
`
`contents of which are hereby explicitly incorporated by reference.
`
`In Figure 1 g a receive antenna 184 and low noise amplifier 186 provide one input to a
`time-integrating correlator 188. A second input to the correlator is provided by a code
`
`sequence generator 190 which generates a spread spectrum-type code such as a Kasami
`code, that is a code with a high auto-correlation coefficient from a family of codes with
`
`no low cross-correlation coefficients. Correlator 188 multiplies the analogue input
`
`signal by the reference code and integrates over a code sequence period and in US '754
`
`is a matched filter with a plurality of phases representing different time alignments of
`the input signal and reference code. The correlator output is digitised by analogue-to-
`
`digital converter 192 which provides an output to a bus 194 controlled by a processor
`
`196 with memory 198 the code sequence generator 190 is driven by a crystal oscillator
`
`driven flock 200 a transmit antenna driver 202 receives data from bus 194 which is
`multiplied by a code sequence from generator 190 and transmitted from transmit
`
`antenna 204. In operation coded sequences of impulse doublets are received and
`
`transmitted, in one arrangement each bit comprising a 1023-chip sequence of lOns
`
`chips, thus having a duration of 10µs and providing 30dB processing gain. Shorter
`
`spreading sequences and/or faster clocks may be employed for higher bit rates.
`
`The transceiver described in US '754 uses a modification of a frequency-independent
`
`current-mode shielded loop antenna (as described in US 4,506,267) comprising a flat
`
`rectangular conducting plate. This antenna is referred to as a large-current radiator
`(LCR) antenna and when driven by a current it radiates outwards on the surface of the
`plate.
`
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`6
`Figure lh shows a driver circuit 206 for such an LCR transmit antenna 208. The
`antenna is driven by an H-bridge comprising four MOSFETs 210 controlled by left (L)
`and right (R) control lines 212, 214. By toggling line 214 high then low whilst
`maintaining line 214 low an impulse doublet (that is a pair of impulses of opposite
`polarity) of a first polarity is transmitted, and by toggling line 212 high then low whilst
`holding line 214 low an impulse doublet of opposite polarity is radiated. The antenna
`only radiates whilst the current through it changes, and transmits a single gaussain
`
`impulse on each transition.
`
`Figures 2a to 2h show examples UWB waveforms. Figure 2a shows a typical output
`waveform of a UWB impulse transmitter, and Figure lb shows the power spectrum of
`the waveform of Figure 2a. Figure 2c shows a wavelet pulse (which when shortened
`becomes a monocycle) such as might be radiated from one of the transmitters of Figures
`lb to ld. Figure 2d shows the power spectrum of Figure 2c. Figure 2e shows an
`impulse doublet and Figure 2f the power spectrum of the doublet of Figure 2e. It can be
`seen that the spectrum of Figure 2f comprises a comb with a spacing.(in frequency)
`determined by the spacing (in time) of the impulses of the doublet. and an overall
`bandwidth determined by the width of each impulse. It can also be appreciated from
`Figures 2e and 2f that dithering the pulse positions will tend to reduce the nulls of the
`comb spectrum. Figure 2g shows examples of basis impulse doublet waveforms for a
`logic 0 and a logic 1. Figure 2h shows an example of a TDMA UWB transmission such
`as might be radiated from the transceiver of Figure lg, in which bursts of Code Division
`Multiple access (CDMA) -encoded data are separated by periods of non-transmission to
`allow access by other devices.
`
`Ultra wideband communications potentially offer significant advantages for wireless
`home networking, particularly broadband networking for audio and video entertainment
`devices, because of the very high data rates which are possible with UWB systems.
`However, UWB communications also present a number of special problems, most
`particularly the very low transmit power output imposed by the relevant regulatory
`authorities, in the US the FCC. Thus the maximum permitted power output is presently
`below the acceptable noise floor for unintentional emitters so that a UWB signal
`effectively appears merely as noise to a conventional receiver. This low power output
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`7
`limits the effective range of UWB communications and there is therefore a need to
`address this difficulty.
`
`The applicant has recognised that there are some features of TJWB communications of
`which advantage can be taken to address this difficulty, in particular the ability of UWB
`to support multiple channels. Such multiple channels may be provided in a number of
`ways. For example the psudo-random code used in the transmitters described above
`
`with reference to figures le and lg may be employed to define code division
`
`multiplexed channels in a UWB communications system. Alternatively an arrangement
`such as that described with reference to figure lb may be employed to define a plurality
`of UWB bands. In another approach the relative timing of impulse doublets in an
`
`antipodeal modulation scheme may be whitened or spread using a psudo-random noise
`(pn) sequence code, again the pn sequence defining a channel. Provided that the
`
`impulse doublets are well separated so that the mark:space ratio is small collisions are
`relatively rare and generally only result in correctable single bit errors, so that multiple
`channels can coexist within one broad. UWB band.
`
`The ability of UWB communications to support such multiple channels facilitates the
`implementation of a mesh-type network in which when one UWB device is out of range
`with another (or at least sufficiently out of range that communication at a desired speed
`or with a desired quality/bit error rate) communication takes place via a third,
`intermediary UWB device within range of both the first and second device.
`
`In a conventional radio network such as a network based upon a standard in the
`IEEE802.11 series communications between devices in the network are routed through
`a central base station which stores a routing table defining the topology of the entire
`network so that routing within the network can be controlled. However such an
`arrangement suffers from a number of defects in a wireless home networking
`environment, one important defect being the need to reconfigure the base station routing
`table whenever the network configuration changes. In a home environment it is
`undesirable to have to configure a router when the network topology changes,
`particularly as devices may be frequently added to or removed from the network, for
`example simply by switching on and off a network-enabled television or video recorder.
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`8
`Furthermore the base station of such a network constitutes a single point of failure of
`
`the network, which again is undesirable. A still further difficulty is the relatively large
`
`memory and processing requirements of current network protocols — typically
`
`equivalent computing power to a 500 megahertz Pentium (trademark) is required to
`implement a networking protocol of this type, whereas an integrated circuit to enable
`wireless home networking should preferably retail in quantity for under $10.
`
`According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is therefore provided an ultra-
`wideband (UWB) network comprising a plurality of UWB devices each forming a node
`of said network, pairs of said UWB devices being configured for communication with
`one another using one of a plurality of UWB channels, each said UWB device
`comprising a UWB transceiver for bidirectional communication over one or more of
`said UWB channels with at least one other of said UWB devices; and a device
`controller coupled to said UWB transceiver, said controller being configured to
`determine a said UWB channel for use in establishing a communication link with each
`other UWB device; whereby said network is configured for automatic construction of a
`set of communications links between said nodes of said network.
`
`In embodiments employing UWB channels to establish communication links within the
`network this effectively allows the construction of virtual circuits within the network for
`communication between nodes. Thus where first and second devices are
`communicating via an intermediary the intermediary can communicate with the first
`device using a first channel and with the second device using a second channel, the
`intermediary acting as a store and forward node for data communicated between the
`first and second devices. In this way the intermediary need only be locally aware — that
`is no single device requires a map of the global network structure (or changes in this)
`because routing can be performed without such a map. Each intermediary device
`merely knows that incoming data on one channel (and/or port) should be forwarded on a
`second channel and/or port), such a list of associated channels being locally stored, for
`example as a table. In this way data is forwarded through the network until reaching its
`intended recipient.
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`9
`
`To determine the data for these locally stored tables a broadcast protocol may be
`
`employed, for example a first device broadcasting a connection request to a second
`device throughout the network, the second device responding when it receives the
`connection request. Thus each device is preferably configured for broadcasting such a
`connection request, that is for forwarding the connection request to substantially all
`other nodes within range except that from which the request was received. The skilled
`person will recognise that such a technique has the potential to consume a significant
`fraction of the network bandwidth. However, the technique is practical in wireless
`home networks because such networks are generally relatively small and thus broadcast
`traffic, overall, need not have a great impact upon network availability.
`
`A similar broadcast arrangement can be employed to alert devices within the network
`when a new device connects, for example when a network-enabled television is
`switched on. This initial broadcast can also be used to determine a unique identifier for
`the new device within the network such as a device name and/or address.
`
`The skilled person will recognise that one characteristic of embodiments of the above
`described networks is their essentially local routing — messages are sent between
`devices along a chain of devices in whichever direction the message is sent, and thus
`although virtual circuits or connections are established between devices this is done
`dynamically, by means of local routing tables, rather than by some overall master.
`More particularly in embodiments a routing table entry for a device defines two
`connections, one for the link for the connection to the device, the second for the link for
`the connection from the device (for one-way communication only one of these links
`need be defined). Optionally the routing table may further include, for each link defined
`by a pair of channels for incoming and outgoing data, an identifier for the intended end
`recipient, although in embodiments this is not necessary because a message containing
`an identifier for the intended recipient is always forwarded (if it can be) unless the node
`is in fact the recipient.
`
`With embodiments of the above protocols the time to set up a virtual connection is
`relatively small compared with typical data transmission times and it is therefore
`practicable to tear down and replace virtual connections when necessary, for example
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`10
`when a connection is found to be broken because a node in a chain is no longer
`responding. A virtual connection may be removed, for example, by marking an entry in
`a local link table as available for reuse; alternatively an entry may be deleted. Such an
`amendment to a local link table may be made, for example, when a message cannot be
`forwarded because the recipient is not found or does not respond/acknowledge receipt.
`In such a case a disconnect message is preferably sent back to the originator of the
`undelivered message so that the link table of each link in the chain can be updated to
`remove the connection and free up memory for reuse.
`
`Preferably, in the above described networks two types of channel are provided, a
`"physical" channel such as a UWB code channel in a CDMA based scheme, and a
`logical channel. A plurality of logical channels may be associated with a single
`physical channel and the physical channel may then define a domain of the network,
`
`such as a piconet.
`
`A single UWB channel may be used for bidirectional communication, for example by
`time-multiplexing, or one channel may be used for communications in a forward
`direction and one channel for communications in a reverse direction. It will also be
`appreciated that more than one channel may be employed for a link between two
`network nodes for increased data rates.
`
`In a related aspect the invention provides an ultra-wideband (UWB) network
`comprising a plurality of UWB devices each forming a node of said network, pairs of
`said UWB devices being configured for communication with one another using one of a
`plurality of UWB channels, each said UWB device comprising a UWB transceiver for
`bidirectional communication over a plurality of said UWB channels with a plurality of
`other UWB devices; and a connection table configured to store connection data
`associating a first of said channels bearing incoming data with a second of said channels
`for use in forwarding said incoming data to another of said UWB devices.
`
`To facilitate forwarding data in such a UWB network which, as previously mentioned,
`may operate at very high speeds, packet data communication is preferably employed.
`Broadly speaking a conventional packet structure may be used but preferably with the
`
`Copy provided by USPTO from the PACR Image Database on 05/28/2004
`
`Sonos Ex. 1005, p. 13
` Sonos v. Google
` IPR2021-00964
`
`

`

`11
`addition of a channel identifier to facilitate rapid processing of packets and, in
`particular, to facilitate rapid routing of a packet within a node, for example for
`forwarding.
`
`In a further aspect, therefore, the invention provides a data packet for UWB
`communication between nodes of a packet data UWB network, such as a network
`described above, the network having a plurality of UWB channels for communication
`between said network nodes, said data packet including payload data and UWB channel
`identification data, such as a channel number, whereby a said network node receiving
`said data packet is able to determine a UWB channel to use when forwarding said data
`packet.
`
`As previously described there are preferably two kinds of channel operating: (i) a
`'UWB Code Channel' which is used to distinguish between different concurrent radio
`networks (piconets) along CDMA lines; and (ii) a channel or channels for logical
`communication flow within the network. The CDMA code may be known, in order to
`receive a packet, but there may be several concurrent logical channels on any given
`single CDMA domain, either due to a QoS (quality of service) distinction such as
`bandwidth or latency control, or simply because there are multiple devices sharing the
`same CMDA domain by means of time multiplexing. For this reason a network packet
`preferably includes some form of logical routing information, which may be derived,
`from example, from paired MAC addresses in an 802.3 style Ethernet frame or by
`means of a (proprietary) header word.
`
`In a further related aspect the invention provides an ultra-wideband (UWB) device for a
`node of a UWB network, the device comprising an interface to a UWB transceiver for
`bidirectional communication over one or more UWB channels with one or more other
`UWB devices; and a controller coupled to said UWB transceiver interface, said
`controller being configured to control said UWB transceiver to communicate with said
`one or more other UWB devices to determine a said UWB channel to employ for
`communicating with each of said other UWB devices.
`
`Copy provided by USPTO from the PACR Image Database on 05/28/2004
`
`Sonos Ex. 1005, p. 14
` Sonos v. Google
` IPR2021-00964
`
`

`

`12
`In another aspect the invention provides a controller for controlling a UWB device for a
`node of a UWB network, the UWB device including a UWB transceiver for
`bidirectional communication over one or more UWB channels with a plurality of other
`network devices, communication with at least one indirectly linked device of said other
`UWB devices being via an intermediary UWB device, the controller comprising an
`interface for said UWB transceiver; data memory