Bin-to-bin differential encoding apparatus and method for a discrete multi-tone transmission system

An apparatus for decoding encoded data in a communication system, comprising:

• an interface for receiving encoded data, and converting the encoded data into a plurality of separate tones;
• a plurality of rotator devices, each rotator device having an encoded tone input configured to respectively receive a separate one of the plurality of separate tones, each rotator device configured to rotate the phase of each respectively received separate one of the plurality of separate tones based upon one of a reference tone and another one of the plurality of separate tones and to output a rotated tone comprised of a complex number;
• and
• a plurality of slicers, each of the plurality of slicers receiving a rotated tone output from a respective one of the plurality of rotator devices, wherein each slicer determines where the respective rotated tone lies in a real-imaginary Cartesian plane containing the universe of possible tone values, and outputs multiple bit data based on the determination.

A method of encoding binary data bits for transmission in a communication system comprising the steps of:

• receiving a data frame comprised of a plurality of data bits;
• providing a reference tone;
• encoding a first grouping of bits from the plurality of data bits according to a predetermined protocol based upon at least one of a phase and amplitude of the reference tone to produce a first discrete tone;
• encoding a second grouping of bits from the plurality of data bits according to the predetermined protocol based upon at least one of the phase and amplitude of the first tone to produce a second discrete tone;
• encoding a plurality of bit groupings comprised from a remaining portion of the plurality of data bits according to the predetermined protocol based upon the at least one of the phase and amplitude of a previous tone of a previously encoded bit grouping to produce respective encoded discrete tones.

A method of decoding a plurality of tones in a network system, the plurality of tones being received from a transmitting station that differentially encoded the tones relative to one another and a reference tone, comprising the steps of:

• receiving the reference tone and the plurality of tones;
• determining a phase angle of each of the plurality of tones with reference to one of a previous tone value and the reference tone and generating a respective corrected tone value for each of the plurality of tones based on the determination of the phase angle;
• and
• dividing the universe of possible tone values into a plurality of phase regions and determining a specific grouping of bits to be output for each corrected tone value dependent upon which of the plurality of phase regions each respective corrected tone value is located.

A method of transmitting and receiving data in a network system comprising the steps of:

• receiving a data symbol comprised of a plurality of bits;
• generating a reference tone value;
• dividing the plurality of bits into a plurality of bit groupings;
• encoding each bit grouping as a current tone having at least one of a phase angle and amplitude amount set relative to one of the reference tone value and another adjacent encoded current tone value;
• transmitting the current tone value for each of the bit groupings over a network medium to a receiving node of the network system;
• receiving the current tone value for each of the bit groupings at the receiving node;
• determining the phase angle of the current tone value relative to one of the reference tone and another current tone value for each of the bit groupings by the phase angle amount and establishing a corrected tone value for each of the received current tone values based on the determined phase angle;
• dividing the universe of possible tone values into a plurality of equal predetermined regions;
• decoding each of the corrected tone values by determining within which of the plurality of equal predetermined regions the respective corrected values lie and outputting a specific bit grouping value selected according to a predetermined correspondence between the plurality of equal predetermined regions and respective bit grouping values;
• and
• reconstructing the data symbol by assembling the outputted specific bit grouping values.

A random access multipoint network for transmission of data, comprising:

• a shared network medium;
• and
• a plurality of network nodes, each comprising:
• (1) a transmitter having a bin-to-bin differential encoder for encoding data into a first tone value having a first position in a complex plane based on a value of the data and a consecutively adjacent tone value having a corresponding preceding position in the complex plane, and
• (2) a receiver for detecting a second tone having a second position in the complex plane and a third tone value, consecutively following the second tone value and having a third position in the complex plane, from a modulated tone having encountered at least one of amplitude and phase distortion on the shared network medium, the receiver recovering the data transmitted by the modulated tone on the third position relative to the second position.