Universal clock reference
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorTing Dean Cheng
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method of synchronizing a pair of communication devices using a carrier signal from a global positioning system (GPS). The method comprises the steps of: receiving a GPS carrier signal at a first device; at the first device, deriving from the carrier signal a transmitter clock signal having a predetermined frequency; transmitting data at the predetermined frequency from the first device; receiving the data at a second device; receiving the GPS carrier signal at the second device; and at the second device, deriving from the carrier signal a receiver clock signal having the predetermined frequency.
Claims24
A communication system for facilitating remote communications, comprising a first device having:
- a first global positioning system (GPS) receiver for receiving a carrier signal;
- a signal encoder system for encoding data using a first clock signal at a predetermined clock frequency, wherein the clock signal is derived directly from the carrier signal;
- and
- a data transmitter for transmitting the encoded data.
A communication device for receiving data encoded at a predetermined frequency, comprising:
- a global positioning system (GPS) receiver for receiving a carrier signal;
- and
- a signal processing system for decoding the data using a clock signal at the predetermined frequency, wherein the clock signal is derived directly from the carrier signal;
- wherein the encoded data includes non-GPS data.
A method for synchronizing signals in a communication system, comprising the steps of:
- receiving a global positioning system (GPS) carrier signal;
- generating a clock signal derived from the carrier signal;
- and
- synchronizing a non-GPS data stream with the clock signal.
A method of synchronizing a pair of communication devices, comprising the steps of:
- receiving a global positioning system (GPS) carrier signal at a first device;
- at the first device, deriving from the carrier signal a transmitter clock signal having a predetermined frequency;
- transmitting data at the predetermined frequency from the first device;
- receiving the data at a second device;
- receiving the GPS carrier signal at the second device;
- and
- at the second device, deriving from the carrier signal a receiver clock signal having the predetermined frequency.
A communication device for processing data, comprising:
- a global positioning system (GPS) receiver for receiving a carrier signal;
- a signal processing system for converting the carrier signal to a clock signal at a predetermined frequency;
- and
- a universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART), wherein the UART utilizes the clock signal obtained from the signal processing system to process data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.