Modulation of a primary data channel reference clock to form a separate data communication channel
AssigneeLSI Logic Corporation
InventorJohn W. Pfeil
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The amount of data transmitted in a primary data channel is increased by modulating a reference clock signal of the primary data channel with secondary data to form a separate secondary data channel. Primary data is formed into a primary data signal using the modulated reference clock signal, and a transmitter transmits the primary data signal to a receiver. The receiver recovers the primary data and modulated reference clock signal from the primary data signal, and then recovers the secondary data from the recovered modulated reference clock signal.
Claims9
A method of increasing the data communicated in a data channel established by transmitting a primary data using a reference clock signal, including the steps of:
- modulating the reference clock signal with a secondary data to form a modulated reference clock signal containing the secondary data;
- transmitting the primary data using the modulated reference clock signal;
- receiving the primary data as received primary data;
- recovering the modulated reference clock signal from the received primary data to form a recovered modulated reference clock signal;
- recovering the primary data from the received primary data to form a recovered primary data;
- and
- recovering the secondary data from the recovered modulated reference clock signal to form a recovered secondary data, wherein the step of modulating the reference clock signal with secondary data includes the steps of:
- supplying a data byte value as the secondary data;
- selecting a modulation frequency corresponding to the data byte value;
- generating a modulation frequency signal having the selected modulation frequency;
- and
- combining the modulation frequency signal with the reference clock signal to form the modulated reference clock signal prior to transmitting the primary data.
A method of increasing the data communicated in a data channel established by transmitting a primary data using a reference clock signal, including the steps of:
- modulating the reference clock signal with a secondary data to form a modulated reference clock signal containing the secondary data;
- transmitting the primary data using the modulated reference clock signal;
- receiving the primary data as received primary data;
- recovering the modulated reference clock signal from the received primary data to form a recovered modulated reference clock signal;
- recovering the primary data from the received primary data to form a recovered primary data;
- and
- recovering the secondary data from the recovered modulated reference clock signal to form a recovered secondary data, wherein the step of recovering the secondary data from the recovered modulated reference clock signal further includes the steps of:
- demodulating the recovered modulated reference clock signal to form a recovered modulation frequency signal;
- and
- converting the recovered modulation frequency signal back into the secondary data, the step of converting the recovered modulation frequency signal back into the secondary data further comprises the steps of:
- detecting a frequency of the recovered modulation frequency signal;
- and
- converting the detected frequency back into the secondary data as recovered secondary data.
A method of increasing the data communicated in a data channel established by transmitting a primary data using a reference clock signal, including the steps of:
- modulating the reference clock signal with a secondary data to form a modulated reference clock signal containing the secondary data;
- transmitting the primary data using the modulated reference clock signal;
- receiving the primary data as received primary data;
- recovering the modulated reference clock signal from the received primary data to form a recovered modulated reference clock signal;
- recovering the primary data from the received primary data to form a recovered primary data;
- and
- recovering the secondary data from the recovered modulated reference clock signal to form a recovered secondary data, wherein the step of recovering the secondary data from the recovered modulated reference clock signal further includes the steps of:
- recovering a modulation frequency signal from the recovered modulated reference clock signal by using a phase-locked loop to form a recovered modulation frequency signal;
- and
- converting the recovered modulation frequency signal back into the secondary data.
A data channel having a secondary communication channel embedded in a primary communication channel for increasing the amount of data communicated through the data channel, the data channel having a data link between a transmitter and a receiver, and a reference clock for generating a reference clock signal used as a reference for transmitting primary data over the data link to the receiver, said data channel comprising:
- a reference clock modulator for modulating the reference clock signal with a secondary data to form a modulated reference clock signal;
- the transmitter transmitting the primary data to the receiver using the modulated reference clock signal;
- the receiver receiving the primary data from the transmitter as received primary data, recovering the modulated reference clock signal from the received primary data as a recovered modulated reference clock signal, and recovering the primary data from the received primary data;
- and
- a demodulator and frequency detector for recovering the secondary data from the recovered modulated reference clock signal;
- wherein the reference clock modulator further comprises:
- a latch for supplying a data byte as the secondary data;
- a frequency selector for selecting a modulation frequency corresponding to the data byte:
- a frequency generator for generating a modulation frequency signal having the selected modulation frequency;
- and
- a phase modulator for modulating the reference clock signal with the modulation frequency signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.