Communications method employing orthonormal time-frequency shifting and spectral shaping

A method of transmitting at least one frame of data [D] over a communications link, said frame of data comprising a matrix of up to N2 data elements, N being greater than 1, said method comprising:

• obtaining a hybrid analog and digital wireless transmitter;
• using said hybrid analog and digital wireless transmitter to assign each data element a unique waveform (corresponding waveform) which is derived from a basic waveform of duration N time slices over one spreading time interval, with a data element specific combination of a time and frequency cyclic shift of said basic waveform;
• using said hybrid analog and digital wireless transmitter to multiply said data element in said frame of data [D] by its corresponding waveform producing N2 weighted unique waveforms;
• wherein over one spreading time interval, all N2 weighted unique waveforms corresponding to each data element in said fame of data [D] are simultaneously combined;
• wherein a different unique basic waveform of duration N time slices is used for each consecutive time-spreading interval;
• and
• wherein all N2 waveforms correspond to each data element and to a plurality of said data elements.

A method of receiving at least one frame of data [D] over a communications link, said frame of data comprising a matrix of up to N2 data elements, N being greater than 1, said method comprising:

• obtaining a hybrid analog and digital wireless receiver;
• using said hybrid analog and digital wireless receiver to assign each data element a unique waveform (corresponding waveform) which is derived from a basic waveform of duration N time slices over one spreading time interval, with a data element specific combination of a time and frequency cyclic shift of said basic waveform;
• over each said time spreading interval of N time slices, using said hybrid analog and digital wireless receiver to correlate the received signal with the set of all N2 waveforms previously assigned to each data element by a transmitter for that specific time spreading interval, producing a unique correlation score for each one of the N2 data elements;
• for each data element, summing said correlation scores over N time-spreading intervals;
• wherein the summation of said correlation scores reproduce said N2 data elements of said at least one frame of data [D];
• and
• wherein all N2 waveforms correspond to each data element and to a plurality of said data elements.