WO2005107185A1

WO2005107185A1 - Radio communication unit, semiconductor integrated circuit for communication, and communication system

Info

Publication number: WO2005107185A1
Application number: PCT/JP2004/006193
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hiroaki Isono; Makoto Sano; Hirotsugu Kojima
Original assignee: Renesas Technology Corp.
Priority date: 2004-04-28
Filing date: 2004-04-28
Publication date: 2005-11-10
Also published as: JPWO2005107185A1

Abstract

A radio communication unit performs packet communication like Bluetooth communication according to a specified protocol but has no packet retransmission function and is capable of synchronous communication of such a packet that the header has no area for the information indicative of the order of packet. The radio communication unit is provided with a function for judging presence/absence of a reception packet at a specified interval and informing the loss (missing) of a packet to a host controller when a reception packet is not present.

Description

Description Wireless communication device and communication semiconductor integrated circuit and communication system

The present invention relates to a radio communication control technology and a technology for notifying a higher-level control device of a loss (loss) of a received packet in packet communication, and includes, for example, a radio communication device for transmitting and receiving a packet of a Bluetooth communication standard and the like. The present invention relates to a communication IC (semiconductor integrated circuit) and a technology particularly effective when used in a communication system using the same. Background art

One of the wireless communication standards is called Bluetooth, which performs short-range wireless communication using a frequency band of 2.4 GHz to 2.48 GHz. The Bluetooth standard wireless communication system is a packet communication system in which a predetermined amount of data is attached with a header and transmitted. Asynchronous communication (ACL: Asynchronous Connectionless) having a retransmission function, and a predetermined period without a retransmission function It has two communication modes of synchronous communication (SCO: Synchronous Connection Oriented) for transmitting packets, and performs transmission and reception in a time-division manner.

In addition, in the pull-tooth communication, in order to synchronize the clock between the master device and the slave device and to establish a communication connection, the Bluetooth device uses a 3.2 kHz clock signal called a bluetooth clock. . Bucket data is exchanged at twice the cycle of 2 kHz (6 2 5 / X s). Then, control for making an intercommunication connection with the communication partner device is performed by a function called a link controller.

A device capable of Bluetooth communication can freely use asynchronous communication and synchronous communication to perform communication.When transmitting data that requires high reliability such as text data, asynchronous communication can be used. Use voice data or like For transmission of data that requires high real-time performance, synchronous communication is used.

As is well known, in wireless communication, the intensity of radio waves may be temporarily reduced due to a change in the use environment, and communication may become impossible. In Bluetooth communication, packet loss occurs under such circumstances. In the case of asynchronous communication of pull-tooth communication, even if there is a packet loss, the side receiving the bucket stores information indicating that the data has been received in the next transmission bucket and transmits the packet. Therefore, if the information received is not included in the packet received after transmission, the transmitting side determines that the packet has been lost and retransmits the same data, so there is no problem. Figure 1 shows the asynchronous communication in pull-tooth communication.

As shown in Fig. 1, if the packet transmitted by communication device A for the third time, the fifth, sixth, and eighth times does not reach communication device B, communication device A sends three packets to the fourth transmitted packet. Put the same data C as the first time and resend, put the same data D as the fifth time in the 6th and 7th transmitted packets, put the same data E as the 8th time in the ninth transmitted packet, and retransmit. The same applies to the case where the packet transmitted by the communication device B does not reach the communication device A, as shown in Fig. 1, for example, whether the packet transmitted by the communication device B for the 8th time reaches the communication device A. Otherwise, communication device B retransmits the ninth packet with the same data "d" as the eighth packet. Such data retransmission avoids data loss in asynchronous communication.

On the other hand, in the case of synchronous communication, data loss occurs because such data is not retransmitted. Figure 2 shows the situation of synchronous communication in bluetooth communication. As shown in Fig. 2, if the packet transmitted by communication device A for the third time, the fifth, sixth, and eighth times does not reach communication device B, data C and E, F, and H are lost. Become.

Conventionally, as a technique for compensating for lost data in a packet communication system that does not have a retransmission function, for example, in an IP telephone system, a sequence number indicating the order of packets is inserted in the header of a bucket, and data that is divided in time series Has been proposed in which a packet is transmitted in a form of being overlapped in a plurality of consecutive packets (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-166713).

However, in the Bluetooth standard, in order to guarantee communication between communication devices provided by different manufacturers, the specifications of the packet configuration including the header are strictly specified, and specifications different from the standard cannot be provided. . In addition, the header of the transmission packet of the Bluetooth standard does not include an area for storing information indicating a packet order such as a sequence number. Therefore, data compensation as in the prior invention cannot be performed. Further, the prior invention of the prior application is a method of transmitting the same data redundantly in a plurality of continuous packets and transmitting the same, so that the data transmission efficiency is poor. In addition, it is not suitable for transmitting a large amount of data in a short time, such as moving image transmission.

An object of the present invention is to provide synchronous communication that is a bucket communication such as Bluetooth communication, does not have a retransmission function, and has no area in which information indicating a packet order is included in a header. An object of the present invention is to provide a communication control technique capable of reliably detecting a packet loss (drop) and notifying a higher-level control device while ensuring interoperability with a communication device.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for controlling packet communication such as Bluetooth communication, which does not have a retransmission function, by reliably detecting a packet loss without lowering the data transmission efficiency. An object of the present invention is to provide a communication control technique that can notify a device.

Further, another object of the present invention is to provide a method for controlling packet communication such as Bluetooth communication, which does not have a retransmission function, by reliably detecting a packet loss without significantly adding hardware. An object of the present invention is to provide a communication control technique that can notify a device.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a packet communication such as a pull-tooth communication, which does not have a retransmission function, and has a voice communication function or a moving image communication function in a synchronous communication mode, which ensures packet loss. Another object of the present invention is to provide a wireless communication device capable of detecting a wireless communication device and improving communication quality. The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings. Disclosure of the invention

The following is a brief description of an outline of a typical invention disclosed in the present application.

That is, the present invention relates to a wireless communication apparatus that performs bucket communication such as Bluetooth communication according to a predetermined protocol but does not have a packet retransmission function and is capable of synchronous communication of a packet having no area in which information indicating a bucket order is included in a header. In addition, a function is provided to determine the presence or absence of a reception bucket at a predetermined cycle, and to notify a higher-level control device of a packet loss (dropout) when there is no reception bucket. This eliminates the need to insert extra information into the packet so that the receiving side can detect the packet loss, so that the packet loss can be detected without impairing the interconnectivity and the transmission efficiency is improved. be able to.

Here, the presence or absence of a received packet can be determined based on whether the received data is all “0” or all “1”. In addition, this determination is provided by providing a means for making a determination based on received data passed from a circuit for performing predetermined protocol control to a higher-level control device or a signal or a status flag output from a circuit for performing predetermined protocol control. Alternatively, a timer or a counter may be provided in the circuit that performs a predetermined protocol control, and a function of determining the presence or absence of a received packet at a predetermined cycle may be provided.

Further, a test control interface for supporting a test function may be provided in an interface of the communication device with a higher-level control device, and the higher-level control device may be notified of the bucket loss via the test control interface. it can. The Bluetooth standard specifies the packet configuration between a communication device and a higher-level control device when a test control interface (TCI) is provided, so a communication device equipped with a Bluetooth communication function uses this packet. Then, the configuration may be such that the loss of the received packet is notified to a higher-level control device. In addition, using the reserved area of the head part of the HCI (Host Control Interface) data packet supplied from the circuit that performs the prescribed protocol control specified by the Bluetooth standard to the higher-level control device, it is received there. Information indicating the loss of a packet may be inserted and notified to a higher-level control device. Also, at this time, desirably, dummy data is generated in the data area of the HCI data packet or an appropriate one is selected from already received data and stored, and supplied to a higher-level control device. Brief Description of Drawings

Fig. 1 is a timing chart showing an example of asynchronous communication in Bluetooth communication.

Figure 2 is a timing chart showing an example of synchronous communication in Bluetooth communication.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a Bluetooth communication device having a communication function according to the Bluetooth standard.

FIG. 4 is a packet configuration diagram showing the configuration of a transmission / reception bucket used for synchronous communication of bluetooth communication.

FIG. 5 is a bucket configuration diagram showing a configuration of an HCI data bucket exchanged between a control unit (host) and a communication execution unit (host controller) in Bluetooth communication.

Fig. 6 is a timing chart showing the transmission timing of three types of HV packets used for synchronous communication of bluetooth communication.

FIG. 7 is a pack diagram showing a configuration of a Bluetooth communication device to which the first embodiment is applied.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a more detailed configuration of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of packet loss (drop) detection in the communication execution unit of the embodiment of FIG.

Figure 10 is a data structure diagram showing the structure of a TCI packet indicating bucket loss. is there.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment which is a modification of the first embodiment. FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a Bluetooth communication device to which the second embodiment is applied. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As an example of a wireless communication device having a Bluetooth communication function, there is, for example, a headset that enables a hands-free call by performing voice communication with a mobile phone. The Bluetooth standard is a standard that guarantees interconnection even if the mobile phone and the headset or the Bluetooth communication device built into each of the mobile phone and the headset are provided by different vendors. If one of the bluetooth communication devices built into the mobile phone and the headset has a unique function that deviates from the Bluetooth standard (protocol), it cannot be connected to each other. Such a property that communication devices that communicate with each other according to a predetermined standard cannot connect to each other if they have unique functions that deviate from the predetermined standard is called interoperability. .

The mobile phone has multiple functions, such as a function to perform cellular wide-area wireless communication such as CDMA and GSM with other mobile phones, a display function such as an LCD panel, and an input operation function using numeric keys. In this specification, among those functions, an IC (semiconductor integrated circuit) that supports Bluetooth communication or a plurality of ICs and electronic components are mounted on an insulating substrate or in a ceramic package to have a Bluetooth communication function. Such an electronic device such as a module is referred to as a Bluetooth communication device.

Figure 3 shows the configuration of a Bluetooth communication device equipped with a communication function according to the Bluetooth standard.

As shown in Fig. 3, Bluetooth communication devices are roughly called host controllers that transmit and receive data via antenna ANT. It consists of a communication execution unit 110 and a control unit 120 called a host that controls the communication execution unit 110. The Bluetooth standard called HCI (Host Control Interface) is used between the communication execution unit 110 and the control unit 120. It is configured to exchange data @ commands according to the protocol specified in.

The communication execution unit 110 has a physical layer 111 as a high-frequency signal processing unit having a transmission signal up-compartment function, a modulation function, an amplification function, a reception signal amplification function, a demodulation function, a down-comparison function, and the like. Data transmitted and received by the physical layer 111 is processed according to a Bluetooth communication protocol, a communication connection state with a communication partner device is established, and packet analysis, decoding, and reconstruction are performed. An HCI interface section 113 for exchanging signals between the link controller 111, the link controller 112, and the control section 120, and a Bluetooth clock for determining a period of the pull-tooth communication. And a reference clock generation circuit 114 for generating a 3.2 kHz reference clock signal CLK. The control unit 120 communicates with the HCI interface unit 121 that exchanges signals with the communication execution unit 110, and controls and communicates signals to the communication execution unit 110 according to the pull-tooth communication protocol. It comprises a protocol stack section 122 for processing signals from the execution section 110 and an application section 123 for controlling the entire communication device. The application unit 123 refers to the control program itself or a device including a nonvolatile memory storing the control program. Further, the protocol stack section 122 may also refer to the control program itself, or may include a mechanism including a mechanism for reading and decoding the control program stored in the memory. In short, the separation between the protocol stack section 122 and the application section 123 is for the purpose of making the function of the control section easy to understand, and is not limited to such a division method.

In the case where the control unit (host) 120 and the communication execution unit (host controller) 110 are configured as separate devices as in this embodiment, generally, a devis vendor (parts maker) performs communication. An execution unit 110 has been developed, and a set maker has developed a control unit 120. Thus, the communication execution unit 110 and the control unit 120 are opened. Even when the originator (vendor) is different, the communication between the communication execution unit 110 and the control unit 120 can be performed using the Bluetooth standard interface called HCI as described above. By doing so, the system can be easily developed.

Fig. 4 shows the configuration of the transmission bucket transmitted and received between the Bluetooth communication devices. Fig. 5 shows the HC I exchanged between the control unit (host) 120 and the communication execution unit (host controller) 110. The structure of the data bucket is shown. The link controller 111 of the communication execution unit 110 analyzes and decodes a packet with the configuration shown in Fig. 4 received from another communication device, and decodes the HCI synchronous communication data packet with the configuration shown in Fig. 5. And a process of analyzing and decoding the HCI synchronous communication data packet having the configuration shown in FIG. 5 received from the control unit 120 and reconstructing it into a packet having the configuration shown in FIG.

In Fig. 4, the part marked with "AC" is the access code area that contains the tag indicating the destination of the packet, and the part marked with "HEAD" is the type of packet and the communication link. The packet header area contains the parameters to be transmitted, and the "PL" is the payload area containing the data to be transmitted. In FIG. 5, the part marked with “DATA” is the data area where the data to be transmitted is entered, and the part marked with “CH” is used for data communication with multiple Bluetooth devices. Code for distinguishing the depths ゃ Connection handle area that contains the code for distinguishing the content, whether it is audio data or image data, and the part with “RSV” is reserved in advance, although the specification is not yet defined in the Plutooth standard The reserved area, "DTL", which is specified to be reserved, is a data length specification area that contains information indicating the length of data in the data area DATA.

According to the Bluetooth standard, in addition to the above data bucket as an HCI packet, a command bucket used when issuing a command given from the host to the host controller, and when issuing a command from the host controller to the host And an event packet to be used. For the data bucket for exchanging data between the host and the host controller, the data bucket There is a downstream data packet used when sending data from the host controller to the host controller, and an upstream data packet used when sending data from the host controller to the host. Figures 6 (A) to 6 (C) show the timing of three modes of synchronous communication in Bluetooth communication. As shown in Fig. 6, synchronous communication in Bluetooth communication includes an HV1 packet mode in which packets are alternately transmitted from the master to the slave and from the slave to the master every two slots (1.25 msec). HV 2-packet mode, in which the master sends a packet from the master to the slave every 4 slots (2.5 msec) and alternately sends a packet from the slave to the master, and from master to slave every 6 slots (3.75 msec) There is an HV 3 packet mode in which packets are alternately transmitted from the slave to the master. When establishing communication between two devices, which mode is used for communication is determined. The mode can be switched even during communication by notifying that the mode is switched between the master and the slave.

FIG. 7 shows a configuration of a bluetooth communication device to which the first embodiment is applied, and FIG. 8 shows a more detailed configuration of the first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 7, in the present embodiment, the communication execution unit 110 is provided with a packet loss detection unit 115 for detecting the loss (loss) of the received packet, and the packet loss detection unit 111 The configuration is such that the packet loss detected by 5 is notified from the interface unit 113 to the upper-level control unit 120 via an interface called TCI. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 8, a test control interface (TCI) 1331 that supports a test function is provided in an interface unit 113 of the communication execution unit 110, and the test is performed. It is configured to notify the higher-level control unit 120 of the packet loss (dropout) via the port control interface.

In addition, the Bluetooth standard specifies the configuration of a packet (TCI packet) between a communication device and a higher-level control device when a test control interface (TCI) is provided. Is provided with a TCI generator 132 having a function of generating the TCI packet. Note that the interface section 113 generates an HCI packet that is originally used for Bluetooth communication. An HCI generation unit 133 having a function of In this way, by using the test control circuit (TCI) 1331 to notify the higher-level control unit 120 of the packet loss (drop), it is possible to use a standard that deviates from the Bluetooth standard. By avoiding this problem and maintaining interoperability, it is possible to enable communication between Bluetooth communication devices.

The packet loss detection unit 115 checks whether or not the received data RD sent from the link controller 112 to the control unit via the interface unit 113 is all "0" or all "1". Synchronization signal generation unit that generates a packet reception synchronization signal based on the packet reception determination unit 151 that determines the presence or absence of a packet and the reference clock signal (pull-tooth clock) CLK generated by the reference clock generation circuit 114 1 5 2

The packet reception determination unit 151 determines the presence or absence of a received packet in synchronization with the bucket reception synchronization signal PRS supplied from the synchronization signal generation unit 152, and when the packet loss is detected, this is determined by the interface unit 11 1 3, the TCI generation unit 132 is configured to generate a TCI packet indicating the loss of the reception bucket and send it to the upper control unit. Note that the synchronization signal generation section 152 can be configured by a timer or a counter that counts the Bluetooth clock CLK. In addition, the packet loss detection unit 115 may be configured by hardware, or may be configured by software.

In the PN communication, the link controller synchronizes the PN clock between the transmitting communication device and the receiving communication device to transmit / receive packets. Therefore, as described above, the packet reception synchronization signal PRS is based on the Bluetooth clock. By generating the packet, it is possible to know the accurate reception timing of the bucket, thereby enabling error-free packet loss detection.

Note that the pull-tooth standard specifies the configuration of a bucket (TCI packet) between the host controller and an upper-level host when a test control interface (TCI) is provided, but the TCI provided on the host controller side This function can be realized by hardware or software. Therefore, The test control circuit may be designed as a dedicated circuit, or the test control circuit may be, for example, a TAP (Test Access Port) specified by the standard for boundary scan testing determined by the JTAG (Joint Test Action Group). An interface circuit called can be used.

FIG. 9 shows an operation procedure for detecting packet loss (loss) in the communication execution unit 110 of the first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 9, in packet loss (dropout) detection, it is first determined whether a received packet is an HV1 mode packet power, an HV2 mode packet power, or an HV3 mode packet. More specifically, it is determined in step S1 whether the received packet is a packet in the HV1 mode. If the received packet is not in the HV1 mode, it is determined in step S2 whether the received packet is a packet in the HV2 mode. If the received packet is neither an HV1 mode bucket nor an HV2 mode packet, it is determined to be an HV3 mode packet. If the received packet is an HV1 mode packet, the received data is checked every 1.25 msec in step S3, and if the received packet is an HV2 mode packet, every 2.5ms ec in step S4. The received data is checked. If the received packet is an HV3 mode packet, the received data is checked every 3.75 msec in step S5.

Then, in step S6, it is checked whether or not the received data is all "0" or all "1". If not, it is determined that there is a received packet if it is not all "0" or all "1", and nothing is performed. Return to step S1. On the other hand, if it is detected in step S6 that the received data is all "0" or all "1", the flow proceeds to step S7, where the packet loss detection signal PLD is sent to the TCI generation unit 132 of the interface unit 113. The TCI generation unit 132 generates a TCI packet indicating the bucket loss and sends it to the control unit 120 to notify the packet loss.

FIG. 10 shows the configuration of a TCI packet that indicates packet loss.

In Fig. 10, "OpCode" is an area that contains 16-bit data for uniquely identifying a command. This field is a field that contains an opcode, "OCF", and a code that indicates the command group (type). "OGF" in the field Consists of "PTL" is a field that contains 8-bit data that indicates the total length of parameters 0 to N that are to be entered in the following field. The Bluetooth standard specifies that vendor-specific commands can be added by inserting "0x3F" in the command group field "OGF". In this embodiment, a new command unique to the vendor is provided by using this rule, a TCI packet in which this command is set in the field "OCF" is generated, and sent to the control unit 120 to notify the packet loss. I'm familiar. Alternatively, it may be configured that sending a TCI packet itself indicates a packet loss, and an arbitrary TCI packet may be generated and sent to the control unit 120.

Note that, in the above embodiment, the packet reception determination unit 151 of the packet loss detection unit 115 determines that the received data transmitted from the link controller 112 to the control unit via the interface unit 113 is all “0”. It is configured to determine whether there is a received packet by checking whether or not all are "1". However, instead of the received data, a flag indicating the presence or absence of a received bucket is provided in the link controller 112. A signal indicating the state of the flag may be input to the packet reception determining unit 151 to determine the presence or absence of a received packet. For example, when the received signal strength is low and the data cannot be identified, the link controller 112 sets all data to “0” in the data section DATA shown in FIG. 5, and sets the data to “0” because the received signal strength is too high. If the data cannot be identified, the data to be put in the data section DATA in Fig. 5 is set to all "1". In other words, the presence or absence of a received packet can be known in advance. It is possible to notify determination section 15 1 of the presence or absence of a received packet.

FIG. 11 shows a second embodiment which is a modification of the first embodiment (FIG. 3). In this modified example, a received data generation unit 153 is provided in the packet loss detection unit 115, and if the packet reception judgment unit 151 detects the packet loss and sends the packet loss information, 5, the dummy reception data to be stored in the data area DATA of the HC I synchronous communication data packet is generated and passed to the HC I interface section 113, and the HC I interface section 113 Data area of I data packet The HCI data packet that stores the dummy reception data in the area DATA and the predetermined code for notifying the bucket loss in the reserved area RSV is generated and supplied to the control unit 120. is there. With such a configuration, it is possible to prevent the use of a standard that deviates from the Bluetooth standard, and to enable mutual communication between the Bluetooth communication devices by maintaining the interoperability.

In addition, a test control circuit (TCI) 1331 is used to notify the upper control unit 120 of the bucket loss (loss), and dummy reception data is stored in the data area DATA of the HCI data packet. In the reserved area RSV, an HCI data packet storing a predetermined code for notifying the loss of the packet is generated and supplied to the control unit 120. Informs the higher-level control unit of the information that informs the higher-level control unit by storing information that informs the packet loss in a bucket that satisfies the above standard, thereby notifying the higher-level control unit of the packet loss. In doing so, it is possible to maintain interoperability, and communication devices can communicate with each other according to a predetermined standard.

The control unit 120 that has received this packet can recognize that the data in the data area is dummy data by checking the reserved area R SV. In the case of the dummy data, the loss of the packet was compensated by discarding the dummy data and extracting an appropriate one from the data already received and stored in the memory and sending the extracted data to the speaker. Audio data can be reproduced. Since the audio signal is limited to a relatively narrow frequency range, even if the data is compensated by selecting an appropriate one from the received data, it is more uncomfortable than playing back the missing data. Audio without sound can be played.

Since the dummy data is discarded on the control unit 120 side, any data having a length specified by the packet configuration may be used. Also, instead of storing the dummy data in the data area DATA, an HCI data bucket that stores a predetermined code for notifying the bucket loss to the reserved area RSV is generated and the control unit generates the HCI data bucket. It may be configured to supply to 120.

FIG. 12 shows a configuration of a Bluetooth communication device to which the second embodiment is applied. In FIG. 12, blocks having the same functions as those in FIG. 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.

The Bluetooth communication device of the second embodiment includes a protocol stack of a link controller 112 of the communication execution unit 110, an interface unit 113, a packet loss detection unit 115, and a control unit 120. The unit 122 is configured as a semiconductor integrated circuit (IC for bluetooth communication) 100 on one semiconductor chip. An RF module 200 as a high-frequency signal processing device constituting the physical layer 111 and a flash memory 310 as an application unit 123 are connected to the Bluetooth communication IC 100 as external components. These are mounted on a printed wiring board or the like to form a communication system.

The RF module 200 is composed of an IC for modulation and demodulation, a power amplifier (high-frequency power amplifier), a filter for removing unnecessary waves, and a transmission / reception switching switch. In the IC 100 of the present embodiment, the link controller 112 and the packet loss detector 115 are integrally formed by a dedicated logic circuit, and are shown as one block in FIG. Have been.

Although not particularly limited, in the system of the present embodiment, a power supply voltage from a battery power supply such as 3.3 V is required for the Bluetooth communication IC 100 and the RF module 200. A voltage regulator (DC-DC converter) 400 that converts to a power supply voltage such as 2.8 V, and an external SRAM (static memory) 3 that provides a temporary storage area for data and a work area for the CPU 3 20 are provided. Since the SRAM320 is provided, previously received data can be stored, and when packet loss is detected, data is compensated based on already received data. be able to. Since voice data does not require much accuracy like text data, in voice communication using Bluetooth communication, data is compensated based on previously received data, resulting in sound quality degradation due to audio interruption. There is an advantage that can be avoided. In the system of this embodiment, a high-frequency oscillator 210 such as 13 MHz is connected to the RF module 200 to generate a cut-off signal φ 0 required for the operation of the RF module 200. At the same time, the clock signal 0 is also supplied to the Bluetooth communication IC 100 and is used as a reference clock signal for the operation clock φ 1 of the protocol stack section 122. Further, the Bluetooth communication IC 100 according to the present embodiment is configured to add the operation signal φ 1 of 26 MHz or 52 MHz by multiplying the mouth signal φ 0 from the RF module 200 by the multiplication. There is a clock pulse generator (CPG) to generate the clock.

Similarly, the output signal φ 0 output from the RF module 200 is input to the communication execution unit 110 as a reference clock for Bluetooth communication.

In this embodiment, since the linter controller 112 is formed on a semiconductor chip separate from the RF module 200 serving as the physical layer 111, a connection between the RF module 200 and the linter controller 112 is made. An RF interface 161 is provided to adjust the timing and level of these signals. The HCI interface 113, which is the interface on the control unit side, is connected to the peripheral path HP #.

The protocol stack section 122 is composed of a microprocessor (CPU) 171 and a memory access controller (MAC) 172. The CPU 1 7 1 has the first. ? 1; the cache memory 18 1 and the RAM 18 2 are connected via the path 1 ^ -13 us. The cache memory 18 1 and RAMI 82 are connected to the second CPU path I-bus, and a path bridge PPBS for exchanging data between buses between the second CPU path I-bus and the peripheral path HPB Is provided. Further, a DMA controller DMAC that controls DMA (direct memory access) transfer is connected to the second CPU bus I-bus.

In this embodiment, the protocol stack section 122 of FIG. 3 is configured as firmware by a protocol processing routine among the application programs in the flash memory 310 and a CPU 171 executing the protocol processing routine. Can be seen. HCI interface 1 2 1 in Fig. 3 is also flash memory 3 1 It can be considered that the processing routine for performing communication between the host and the host controller among the application programs in 0 and the CPU 171 for executing the processing routine are configured as a firmware.

Further, in the Bluetooth communication device of this embodiment, the second CPU path I_bus is provided with a path state controller BSC for performing control such as timing adjustment of a signal on the path. Data signals can be exchanged with an external system path 330 to which the flash memory 310 is connected via the path state controller BSC.

The peripheral path HPB has a timer unit TMU for various time management, serial communication interfaces SCIFl and SCIF0 that input and output signals serially to and from external devices, and interrupts that accept interrupts from external devices. Peripheral circuits such as a controller I NTC and a conversion circuit DAC that performs analog-to-digital or conversion or digital-to-analog conversion are connected.

Although not particularly limited, in this embodiment, the loss of the received packet from the communication execution unit 110 to the control unit 120 is determined by the HC I as described in the above-described modification (FIG. 11). It is made to notify in the data bucket. Since the communication execution unit and the control unit are formed on the same chip, it is not always necessary to use the HCI data packet as a means to notify the reception unit of the loss of the received bucket from the communication execution unit. Use of HC I data packets has the advantage that when designing application programs to be stored in the flash memory 310 on the set manufacturer side, past design resources can be used and development becomes easier. .

In the second embodiment, it is not always necessary to use the HC I data packet as a means for notifying the loss of the received packet, and a test control interface (TC I) is provided in the HC I interface section 113 to provide the HC I data. It can be configured so that the loss of the received bucket is indicated by a TCI packet instead of the packet. As described above, in the above-described embodiment, the host controller as a communication device of the bluetooth communication capable of performing synchronous communication of a packet having no packet retransmission function and having no area in which information indicating a bucket order is included in a header is provided. , The predetermined circumference A function is provided to notify the host as a higher-level control device of the presence / absence of a received packet at the end of the period, and when there is no received packet, a function to notify the host as a higher-level control device is provided. There is no need to put extra information in the bucket. Therefore, it is not necessary to change the transmission packet, it is possible to detect the packet loss without impairing the interconnectivity, and it is possible to improve the transmission efficiency.

Also, the presence or absence of a received packet is determined by determining whether the received data is all "0" or all "1", so reception can be performed with simple hardware or additional software. The presence or absence of a packet can be determined.

Further, a test control interface for supporting a test function is provided at an interface of the communication device with a higher-level control device, and the higher-level control device is notified of a packet loss (dropout) via the test control interface. Therefore, when a communication device has a test function, the lack of a received packet can be notified to a higher-level control device by adding simple hardware or software. Furthermore, using the reserved area of the head part of the HCI synchronous communication data bucket supplied to the higher-level control device from the circuit that performs the predetermined protocol control specified by the Bluetooth standard, reception is performed there. Since information indicating packet loss (loss) is inserted to notify the higher-level control device, dummy data is stored in the data area of the HCI synchronous communication data packet and supplied to the higher-level control device. In addition, the loss (loss) of the received packet can be reported to a higher-level control device without significantly changing the hardware or software.

In addition, since a memory capable of storing already received audio data is provided, even if a reception packet is lost, it is possible to perform pseudo restoration using already received data, and perform such restoration. As a result, the quality of voice communication can be improved.

Although the invention made by the inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and it is needless to say that various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. Nor. For example, in the above embodiment, the flash memory 310 is connected as an external memory to the Bluetooth communication IC, but may be built in the Bluetooth communication IC as an internal memory. In addition, a buffer memory capable of storing a predetermined amount of received data is provided in the link controller, and instead of the dummy data included in the HCI synchronous communication data packet indicating the packet loss, appropriate data is selected from the already received data. It is also possible to select an object and supply it to the control unit. As a result, the data compensation processing on the control unit side can be omitted, and the burden on the CPU can be reduced. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the communication of the packet containing the audio data has been described as an example. However, the present invention can be applied to the case of communicating not only the audio data but also the image data. Industrial applicability

The case where the present invention is applied to the embodiment assuming a Bluetooth communication, specifically, a hands-free system including a mobile phone and a headset has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a transceiver or extension using Bluetooth communication is used. Voice communication between a headset and a personal computer used as a telephone or voice communication system using the Internet (so-called Internet phone), music data communication between a portable audio device such as an MP3 player and a headset It can also be widely used for synchronous communication using buckets other than pull-tooth communication.

Claims

The scope of the claims

1. A wireless communication device capable of performing synchronous communication of packets in accordance with a predetermined protocol and capable of performing the above-described synchronous communication having interconnectivity. A wireless communication device having a function of notifying a higher-level control device of a lack of a received packet when it is determined that there is no packet.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a counter or a timer for performing a clocking operation based on a clock signal for the synchronous communication, and determining the presence or absence of a received packet at a predetermined cycle according to the value of the counter or the timer. The wireless communication device described.

3. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, wherein the packet communication is communication according to the Bluetooth standard.

4. The wireless communication device according to claim 2, wherein the counter or the timer performs a timing operation based on a clock signal used for synchronous communication according to the Bluetooth standard.

5. A packet with the same specification as the data packet for passing the received data specified by the Bluetooth standard host control interface to the higher-level control device, and notifying the lack of the received packet to the higher-level control device. The wireless communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, which is characterized in that:

6. A test control interface stipulated by the Bluetooth standard, and the packet of the test control interface specification is notified to the higher-level control device of the lack of the received packet. 5. The wireless communication device according to any one of 4.

7. The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a cycle for determining the loss of the received packet is the same as a cycle for transmitting the packet.

8. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, wherein the data transmitted by the packet is voice data.

9. A wireless communication device that performs packet communication in accordance with the protocol specified by the Bluetooth standard, has a test control interface specified by the Bluetooth standard, and is a packet of the specification of the test control interface. A wireless communication device having a function of notifying a higher-level control device of a lack of a reception bucket.

10. The control device according to claim 9, wherein said higher-level control device is notified of the lack of said received packet in synchronization with a clock signal used for synchronous communication according to the Bluetooth standard or a signal generated based on said clock signal. A wireless communication device according to claim 1.

1 1. A wireless communication device that performs packet communication according to the protocol specified by the Bluetooth standard, has a host controller / rain interface specified by the Bluetooth standard, and has the specifications of the host controller interface. A wireless communication device having a function of notifying a higher-level control device of a lack of a received packet by a packet.

12. The information according to claim 11, wherein the information for notifying the higher-level control device of the lack of the reception packet is stored in a reserved area of a packet of the specification of the host control interface and output. Wireless communication device.

13. The wireless communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 11, a higher-level control device that controls the wireless communication device, and an antenna that modulates a transmission bucket signal output from the wireless communication device. A high-frequency signal processing device having a function of demodulating a received packet signal and having a frequency conversion function of a transmitted / received signal.

14. The communication system according to claim 13, wherein said higher-level control device comprises a microprocessor and a nonvolatile memory storing an application program executed by said microprocessor. .

15. A semiconductor chip capable of performing synchronous communication for performing bucket communication in accordance with a predetermined protocol and having a communication execution unit capable of performing the synchronous communication having interconnectivity and a control unit for controlling the communication execution unit A communication semiconductor integrated circuit formed at a predetermined period, and having a function of determining presence / absence of a received packet at a predetermined cycle, and notifying the control unit of the lack of the received packet when determining that there is no received packet. And a semiconductor integrated circuit for communication.

16. The communication execution unit includes a logic unit that performs communication processing in accordance with the Bluetooth standard and a Bluetooth standard host control interface, and is a Bluetooth standard packet having the same specifications as the data packet to be passed to the control unit. 16. The communication semiconductor integrated circuit according to claim 15, wherein the control unit is notified of the lack of the received packet.

17. The communication device according to claim 16, wherein the information for notifying the control unit of the lack of the received packet is stored and output in a reserved area of a packet of the specification of the host control interface. .

18. The control unit includes a microprocessor. 16. The semiconductor integrated circuit for communication according to item 16.

19. The communication semiconductor integrated circuit according to claim 15, wherein the packet communication is communication according to the Bluetooth standard.

20. A communication semiconductor integrated circuit according to any one of claims 15 to 19, and a transmission packet signal output from the communication semiconductor integrated circuit is modulated to demodulate a packet signal received from an antenna. And a high-frequency signal processing device having a frequency conversion function of a transmission / reception signal.

21. A communication semiconductor integrated circuit according to claim 18, and a transmission packet signal output from the communication semiconductor integrated circuit is modulated to demodulate a bucket signal received from an antenna and frequency-convert a transmission / reception signal. A communication system comprising: a high-frequency signal processing device having a function; and a non-volatile memory storing an absorption program executed by the microprocessor.

22. The communication system according to claim 20 or 21, further comprising a volatile memory capable of storing bucket data already received.

23. A wireless communication device capable of performing packet communication in accordance with a predetermined protocol, which determines whether or not there is a received bucket, and determines a determination result within a packet of the predetermined protocol while observing the predetermined protocol. A wireless communication device having a function of storing the above determination result and informing a higher-level control device of the result.

24. A communication execution unit capable of performing packet communication according to a predetermined protocol and capable of performing the above-described bucket communication having interconnectivity, and a control unit that controls the communication execution unit are integrated into one semiconductor chip. A communication semiconductor integrated circuit formed, which determines the presence or absence of a reception bucket, and outputs the determination result to the predetermined protocol. A communication semiconductor integrated circuit having a function of storing the determination result in a bucket of the predetermined protocol and informing the control unit of the determination result while observing the above.

25. The communication execution unit includes a logic unit that performs communication processing in accordance with the Bluetooth standard and a host control interface that conforms to the Puno rate standard. 26. The communication semiconductor integrated circuit according to claim 24, wherein the determination result is notified to the control unit using a packet having the same specification as that of the communication semiconductor integrated circuit.

26. The communication semiconductor integrated circuit according to claim 25, wherein the determination result is stored and output in a reserved area of a packet of the specification of the host control interface.

27. The communication execution unit is provided with a test control interface specified by the Bluetooth standard, and is provided with a function of notifying the control unit of the above determination result with a packet of the test control interface specification. Wireless communication device.