Sample rate reduction in data communication receivers

A satellite communication system, comprising:

• a local satellite dish that is operable to receive an analog signal transmitted from a satellite via a wireless communication channel;
• and
• a set top box, communicatively coupled to the local satellite dish via a coaxial cable, that receives the analog signal received by the local satellite dish;
• and
• wherein the set top box comprises an analog to digital converter, an up-sampler, an interpolation filter, and a variable interpolation/decimation filter;
• the analog to digital converter is operable to digitally sample the received analog signal to generate a digital signal;
• the up-sampler, communicatively coupled to the analog to digital converter, is operable to increase the sample rate of the digital signal thereby generating an over-sampled digital data stream;
• the interpolation filter, communicatively coupled to the up-sampler, is operable to remove a spectral repeat from the over-sampled digital data stream;
• the variable interpolation/decimation filter, communicatively coupled to interpolation filter, is operable to recover a transmitted symbol from the over-sampled digital data stream;
• and
• the analog to digital converter being clocked at a frequency greater than twice the highest frequency component in the received analog signal.

A communication receiver, comprising:

• a radio frequency interface that is operable to extract at least one of an in-phase component and a quadrature component from a received analog signal;
• an analog to digital converter that is operable to digitally sample at least one of the in-phase component and the quadrature component to generate a digital signal;
• an up-sampler, communicatively coupled to the analog to digital converter, that is operable to increase the sample rate of the digital signal by a factor of two thereby generating an over-sampled digital data stream;
• an interpolation filter, communicatively coupled to the up-sampler, that is operable to remove a spectral repeat from the over-sampled digital data stream;
• a variable interpolation/decimation filter, communicatively coupled to interpolation filter, that is operable to recover a transmitted symbol from the over-sampled digital data stream;
• and
• wherein the analog to digital converter being clocked at a frequency greater than twice the highest frequency component in the received analog signal;
• and
• the variable interpolation/decimation filter is operable to down-convert the sample rate to an integer multiple of a symbol frequency.

A reduced sample rate method, comprising:

• receiving an analog signal;
• digitally sampling the analog signal to generate a digital signal using a frequency greater than twice the highest frequency component in the received analog signal;
• up-sampling the digital signal;
• remove a spectral repeat from the up-sampled, digital signal;
• and
• recovering a transmitted symbol from the over-sampled digital data stream.

A reduced sample rate method, comprising:

• extracting at least one of an in-phase component and a quadrature component from a received analog signal;
• digitally sampling the at least one of the in-phase component and the quadrature component, using a frequency greater than twice the highest frequency component in the received analog signal, to generate a digital signal;
• up-sampling the digital signal thereby increasing the sample rate of the digital signal by a factor of two thereby generating an over-sampled digital data stream;
• removing a spectral repeat from the over-sampled digital data stream;
• recovering a transmitted symbol from the over-sampled digital data stream;
• and
• increasing a sample rate of the over-sampled digital data stream by a factor of two.