Apparatus and method to provide spectrum sharing for two or more RF signals occupying an overlapping RF bandwidth

A wireless communication receiver for processing a superposed RF (radio frequency) signal containing two or more RF signals occupying overlapping RF bandwidth, the wireless communication receiver comprising:

• a wideband receiver for receiving said superposed RF signal;
• an analog to digital converter for converting said received superposed RF signal to a superposed digital signal using a previously determined common digitizing rate;
• a channelizer for at least a first RF signal having the smallest bandwidth of said RF signals that receives said superposed digital signal and limits said superposed digital signal to a bandwidth that corresponds with the bandwidth of each of said at least said first RF signal of said RF signals, providing at least one bandwidth clipped digital signal;
• a first signal handling device for said first RF signal that receives a first respective bandwidth clipped digital signal, comprising:
• a first decoder that removes interference and decodes said first respective bandwidth clipped digital signal to provide a first decoded signal representing said first RF signal;
• and
• a rate converter that converts the sample rate for said decoded signal to a first standard DSP rate for the said first RF signal;
• and
• a signal handling device for said each RF signal, other than said first RF signal, that receives one of said superposed digital signal and respective said at least one bandwidth clipped digital signal, comprising:
• a multi-user detection decoder that receives said first decoded signal from said first decoder of said first signal handling device and shares data with multi-user detection decoders in any other signal handling devices to remove conventional and multi-access interference and decode said one of said superposed digital signal and respective said at least one bandwidth clipped digital signal to provide a decoded signal for said each RF signal;
• and
• a rate adjuster that adjusts the sampling rate of said decoded signal for said each RF signal to a standard DSP rate for said each RF signal.

A wireless communication receiver for processing a superposed RF (radio frequency) signal containing two or more RF signals occupying overlapping RF bandwidth, the wireless communication receiver comprising:

• sampling means for sampling said superposed RF signal at a first digitizing rate which is a multiple of a standard sampling rate for each RF signal;
• a stream separator that forms a number of streams from said sampled superposed RF signal, each stream based on a set of samples taken at said standard sampling rate for a first RF signal;
• a first decoder that decodes said streams to arrive at a digital estimate of said first RF signal and provides a final estimate of said first RF signal from said digital estimates;
• and
• a second decoder that decodes a second RF signal responsive to at least one of said digital estimates and said final estimate.

A method for processing a superposed RF (radio frequency) signal containing two or more RF signals occupying overlapping RF bandwidth in a wireless communication receiver, the method comprising:

• receiving said superposed RF signal;
• converting said received superposed RF signal to a superposed digital signal using a previously determined common digitizing rate;
• and
• for each of said RF signals:
• limiting said superposed digital signal to a bandwidth that corresponds with the bandwidth of said respective RF signal, providing a bandwidth clipped digital signal;
• using multi-user detection responsive to synchronized data received from other RF signals to decode said bandwidth clipped digital signal to remove conventional and multi-access interference and provide a decoded digital signal;
• and
• adjusting a sampling rate of the decoded digital signal to provide an output signal having a predetermined sampling rate.

A method of processing superposed RF (radio frequency) signals comprising:

• sampling said superposed RF signals at a first digitizing rate which is a multiple of a standard sampling rate for each RF signal of said superposed RF signals;
• for a first RF signal of said superposed RF signals, forming a number of streams from said sampled superposed RF signals, each stream based on a set of samples at said standard sampling rate for said first RF signal;
• decoding each of said streams to arrive at a digitized estimate of said first RF signal;
• deriving a final estimate from said digitized estimates;
• and
• decoding other RF signals of said superposed RF signals responsive to at least one said digitized estimate or said final estimate.

A computer readable medium containing computer executable code for adapting a wireless communication receiver for processing a superposed RF (radio frequency) signal containing two or more RF signals occupying overlapping RF bandwidth to:

• receive said superposed RF signal;
• convert said received superposed RF signal to a superposed digital signal using a previously determined common digitizing rate;
• and
• for each of said RF signals:
• limit said superposed digital signal to a bandwidth that corresponds with the bandwidth of said respective RF signal, providing a bandwidth clipped digital signal;
• use multi-user detection responsive to synchronized data received from other RF signals to decode said bandwidth clipped digital signal to remove conventional and multi-access interference and provide a decoded digital signal;
• and
• adjust a sampling rate of the decoded digital signal to provide an output signal having a predetermined sampling rate.