Method and apparatus for mitigating interference in a satellite signal receiver

Abstract

A method and apparatus for mitigating interference in a satellite signal receiver is described. The satellite signal receiver receives satellite signals from a plurality of satellites. In one example a control signal is transmitted to the satellite signal receiver upon occurrence of data transmission from a wireless transceiver operating in proximity to the satellite signal receiver. Signal integration within the satellite signal receiver is gated in response to the control signal In another example, one or more values of satellite signal samples are selected from a plurality of possible values. Signal integration within the satellite signal receiver is gated in response to a percentage of satellite signal samples taken over a predefined period exceeding a predefined threshold. In yet another example, a gain setting of an automatic gain control circuit within the satellite signal receiver is adjusted in response to detection of interference.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A mobile device, comprising:
 an automatic gain control (AGC) block configured to drive a gain setting to a non-zero predefined value in response to a control signal, the control signal being generated upon occurrence of a data transmission from the mobile device and being indicative of a signal power associated with the data transmission; and   an interference detector configured to disable satellite signal integration when the control signal indicates that the signal power exceeds a threshold, and to enable the satellite signal integration when the control signal indicates that the signal power is below the threshold.   
     
     
         2 . The mobile device of  claim 1 , wherein the control signal has a first state associated with the signal power exceeding the threshold and a second state associated with the signal power being below the threshold. 
     
     
         3 . The mobile device of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 an accumulator configured to disable the satellite signal integration by gating accumulation of satellite signal correlations over a predefined period.   
     
     
         4 . The mobile device of  claim 3 , wherein the accumulation of satellite signal correlations includes an accumulation of in-phase satellite signal correlations and quadrature phase satellite signal correlations over the predefined period. 
     
     
         5 . The mobile device of  claim 3 , wherein the accumulation of satellite signal correlations includes an accumulation of values indicative of a magnitude or a power of the satellite signal correlations over the predefined period. 
     
     
         6 . The mobile device of  claim 3 , wherein the accumulation of satellite signal correlations includes an accumulation of successive sets of satellite signal correlations over the predefined period. 
     
     
         7 . The mobile device of  claim 3 , wherein the accumulator is configured to gate the accumulation of satellite signal correlations such that the gated correlations are not accumulated with previous satellite signal correlations to disable the satellite signal integration. 
     
     
         8 . The mobile device of  claim 1 , wherein the AGC block is further configured to hold the gain setting in response to the control signal. 
     
     
         9 . A mobile device, comprising:
 an accumulator configured to accumulate satellite signal correlations; and   an interference detector configured to monitor a percentage of satellite signal samples within a predefined period corresponding to a magnitude bit value and to generate a gate signal when the percentage exceeds a threshold percentage, and   wherein the accumulator is further configured to gate accumulation of the satellite signal correlations in response to the gate signal.   
     
     
         10 . The mobile device of  claim 9 , wherein the magnitude bit value corresponds to a value of a least significant bit of each of the satellite signal samples. 
     
     
         11 . The mobile device of  claim 9 , wherein the magnitude bit value corresponds to a logic high value. 
     
     
         12 . The mobile device of  claim 9 , wherein the threshold percentage is 60%. 
     
     
         13 . The mobile device of  claim 9 , wherein the accumulator is configured to gate the accumulation of the satellite signal correlations such that gated satellite signal correlations are not accumulated with previous satellite signal correlations. 
     
     
         14 . The mobile device of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 a radio frequency (RF) front end configured to provide the satellite signal samples; and   an automatic gain control (AGC) block configured to adjust a gain of the RF front end to attempt to maintain a substantially constant percentage of satellite signal samples within the predefined period having a magnitude bit that corresponds to a logic high value.   
     
     
         15 . A mobile device including a satellite signal receiver, comprising:
 a wireless transceiver configured to generate a control signal when transmitting;   an automatic gain control (AGC) block configured to drive a gain setting of the satellite signal receiver to a non-zero predefined value in response to the control signal; and   an accumulator configured to gate an accumulation of satellite signal correlations in response to the control signal.   
     
     
         16 . The mobile device of  claim 15 , wherein the accumulation of satellite signal correlations includes an accumulation of in-phase satellite signal correlations and quadrature phase satellite signal correlations over a predefined period. 
     
     
         17 . The mobile device of  claim 15 , wherein the accumulation of satellite signal correlations includes an accumulation of values indicative of a magnitude or a power of the satellite signal correlations over a predefined period. 
     
     
         18 . The mobile device of  claim 15 , wherein the accumulation of satellite signal correlations includes an accumulation of successive sets of satellite signal correlations over a predefined period. 
     
     
         19 . The mobile device of  claim 15 , wherein the accumulator is configured to gate the accumulation of satellite signal correlations such that the gated correlations are not accumulated with previous satellite signal correlations. 
     
     
         20 . The mobile device of  claim 15 , wherein the AGC block is further configured to hold the gain setting in response to the control signal.