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US 10,255,590 B1Granted
Radio frequency noise management
AssigneeSquare, Inc.
InventorsJeremy Wade, Afshin Rezayee
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A payment terminal has a clock management unit for providing clock signals to components of the payment terminal. The payment terminal also has a wireless communication interface for communicating wireless signals. A processing unit of the payment terminal may monitor clock signals provided by the clock management unit and determine a phase and frequency difference between a clock signal provided to a component producing RF noise and a clock signal provided to a wireless communication interface of the payment terminal. When RF noise present in the received wireless signal falls below a threshold, the processing unit may sample the received wireless signal.
Claims34
A method for a near field communication (NFC) device to control one or more clock signals to reduce interference with NFC signals, comprising:
- generating, by a clock source of the NFC device, a clock source signal;
- receiving, at a clock management unit of the NFC device, the clock source signal;
- generating, by the clock management unit of the NFC device, a plurality of clock signals, wherein a switching regulator clock signal of the plurality of clock signals has a first phase and a first frequency, wherein a NFC clock signal of the plurality of clock signals has a second phase and a second frequency, and wherein a processing unit clock signal of the plurality of clock signals has a third phase and a third frequency;
- receiving, by one or more switching regulators of the NFC device, the switching regulator clock signal, wherein the one or more switching regulators emit RF noise based on the first phase and first frequency;
- receiving, by a processing unit of the NFC device, the NFC clock signal, wherein a transmitted NFC carrier signal is based on the second phase and the second frequency;
- receiving, by a receive circuit of the NFC device, a received NFC signal, wherein the received NFC signal is based on the NFC carrier signal, and wherein the received NFC signal includes the RF noise;
- receiving, by the processing unit, the processing unit clock signal, wherein a plurality of possible sampling times for the received NFC signal is based on the third phase and the third frequency;
- determining, by the processing unit, a first phase difference between the first phase of the switching regulator clock signal and the second phase of the NFC clock signal;
- determining, by the processing unit, a first frequency difference between the first frequency of the switching regulator clock signal and the second frequency of the NFC clock signal;
- identifying, by the processing unit, a plurality of sampling times based on the first phase difference and the first frequency difference;
- and
- sampling, by the processing unit, the NFC signal at the plurality of sampling times.
9 more elements
A method for a wireless communication device to control one or more clock signals to optimize the communication of wireless signals, comprising:
- generating, by a clock source of the wireless communication device, a clock source signal;
- receiving, at a clock management unit of the wireless communication device, the clock source signal;
- generating, by the clock management unit of the wireless communication device, a plurality of clock signals, wherein a noise source clock signal of the plurality of clock signals has a first phase and a first frequency and wherein a wireless clock signal of the plurality of clock signals has a second phase and a second frequency;
- receiving, by a noise source of the wireless communication device, the noise source clock signal, wherein the noise source emits RF noise based on the first phase and the first frequency;
- receiving, by a wireless source of the wireless communication device, the wireless clock signal;
- communicating, by the wireless source of the wireless communication device, a wireless signal based on the second phase and the second frequency;
- comparing, by the wireless communication device, the RF noise with the communicated wireless signal;
- and
- modifying, by the clock management unit, the first phase or the first frequency based on the comparing.
6 more elements
A wireless communication device for controlling one or more clock signals to optimize the communication of wireless signals, comprising:
- a clock source configured to generate a clock source signal;
- a clock management unit configured to receive the clock source signal configured to generate a plurality of clock signals, wherein a noise source clock signal of the plurality of clock signals has a first phase and a first frequency and wherein a wireless clock signal of the plurality of clock signals has a second phase and a second frequency;
- a noise source configured to receive the noise source clock signal, wherein the noise source emits RF noise based on the first phase and the first frequency;
- and
- a wireless source configured to receive the wireless clock signal, wherein the wireless source is configured to communicate a wireless signal based on the second phase and the second frequency, wherein the wireless communication device is configured to compare the RF noise and the communicated wireless signal, and wherein the clock management unit is further configured to modify the first phase or the first frequency based on the comparison.
2 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processing units to perform operations comprising:
- generating a clock source signal by a clock source of a wireless communication device;
- receiving the clock source signal at a clock management unit of the wireless communication device;
- generating a plurality of clock signals by the clock management unit, wherein a noise source clock signal of the plurality of clock signals has a first phase and a first frequency and wherein a wireless clock signal of the plurality of clock signals has a second phase and a second frequency;
- receiving the noise source clock signal by a noise source of the wireless communication device, wherein the noise source of the wireless communication device emits RF noise based on the first phase and the first frequency;
- receiving the wireless clock signal by a wireless source of the wireless communication device;
- communicating a wireless signal by the wireless source of the wireless communication device based on the second phase and the second frequency;
- comparing the RF noise with the communicated wireless signal;
- and
- modifying the first phase or the first frequency based on the comparing.
6 more elements
A device for communicating RF signals, comprising:
- a clock source configured to generate a clock source signal;
- a clock management unit configured to receive the clock source signal and configured to generate a plurality of clock signals, wherein a noise source clock signal of the plurality of clock signals has a phase and a frequency;
- a noise source configured to receive the noise source clock signal, wherein the noise source emits RF noise based on the first phase and the first frequency;
- and
- a circuit configured to communicate an RF signal, wherein the device is configured to determine at least one value indicating an extent to which the RF noise interferes with the RF signal, and wherein the clock management unit is further configured to modify the phase or the frequency based on the at least one value.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.