Position detection of user equipment within a wireless telecommunications network

Abstract

A user equipment, user equipment method, location server, location server method and computer program are disclosed. The method performed at the user equipment comprises: monitoring for a position reference signal broadcast by a network node; measuring a time of arrival of a peak in a received signal indicative of receipt of said position reference signal and measuring a time of arrival of at least one further peak in said received signal; transmitting a time offset signal indicative of a time difference between said arrival of said at least one further peak and said peak as part of an enhanced reference time difference signal.

Claims

1. A method performed at a user equipment comprising: monitoring for a position reference signal broadcast by a network node; measuring a time of arrival of a peak in a received signal, said peak being indicative of receipt of said position reference signal and measuring a time of arrival of at least one further peak, said at least one further peak being indicative of receipt of the same position reference signal travelling via a different path; transmitting a time offset signal indicative of a time difference between said arrival of said at least one further peak and said peak as part of an enhanced reference time difference signal.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said step of measuring said time of arrival comprises measuring a time of arrival of a plurality of further peaks; and said step of transmitting said time offset comprises transmitting a time offset indicative of a time difference between said arrival of each of said further peaks and said peak.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein said step of measuring said time of arrival comprises measuring a time of arrival of a plurality of further peaks; and said step of transmitting said time offset comprises transmitting a time offset indicative of a time difference between said arrival of each of said peaks other than said first received peak and an immediately preceding peak.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein said peak comprises one of a first peak in said position reference signal received by said user equipment and a peak selected by said user equipment as a baseline peak.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein said step of measuring said time of arrival comprises measuring a time of arrival of a plurality of further peaks; and averaging a time of arrival of a first and a final peak of said received position reference signal and transmitting said averaged time of arrival as said offset signal.

6. A method according to claim 1, further comprising monitoring for a further position reference signal broadcast by a further network node; measuring a time of arrival of a peak in a received signal, said peak being indicative of receipt of said further position reference signal, wherein said further network node comprises a reference network node, and said method further comprises: transmitting a time difference between said measured time of arrival of said peak of said position reference signal and said measured time of arrival of said peak of said further position reference signal as a reference signal time difference measurement.

7. A method according to claim 1, further comprising monitoring for a further position reference signal broadcast by a further network node; measuring a time of arrival of a peak in a received signal, said peak being indicative of receipt of said further position reference signal, wherein said network node comprises a reference network node, said method further comprising: transmitting a time difference between said measured time of arrival of said peak of said further position reference signal and said measured time of arrival of said peak of said position reference signal as a reference signal time difference measurement.

8. A method according to claim 1, further comprising monitoring for a further position reference signal broadcast by a further network node; measuring a time of arrival of a peak in a received signal, said peak being indicative of receipt of said further position reference signal and measuring a time of arrival of at least one further peak in said received signal; transmitting a time offset signal indicative of a time difference between said arrival of said at least one further peak and said peak as part of an enhanced reference time difference signal.

9. A method according to claim 1, further comprising an initial step of receiving a request signal indicating that an enhanced position reference signal time difference measurement should be performed.

10. A method according to claim 1, further comprising measuring an amplitude of said peak and said at least one further peak and transmitting a signal indicative of said amplitudes.

11. A computer program which when executed by a processor is operable to control said processor to perform a method according to claim 1.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable memory storing computer readable instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the user equipment to perform the method of claim 1.

13. A user equipment comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code; wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the user equipment to: monitor for a position reference signal broadcast by a network node; detect and measure a time of arrival of a peak in a received signal, said peak being indicative of receipt of said position reference signal and to detect and measure a time of arrival of at least one further peak in said received signal, said at least one further peak being indicative of receipt of the same position reference signal travelling via a different path; determine a time difference between said arrival of said at least one further peak and said peak; and transmit a time offset signal indicative of said determined time difference as part of an enhanced reference time difference signal.

14. A user equipment according to claim 13, wherein, in conjunction with measuring said time of arrival, the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the user equipment to measure a time of arrival of a plurality of further peaks; wherein, in conjunction with transmitting said time offset signal, the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the user equipment to transmit a time offset indicative of a time difference between said arrival of each of said further peaks and said peak.

15. A user equipment according to claim 13, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the user equipment to: monitor for a further position reference signal broadcast by a further network node; measure a time of arrival of a peak in a received signal, said peak being indicative of receipt of said further position reference signal, wherein said further network node comprises a reference network node; and transmit a time difference between said measured time of arrival of said peak of said position reference signal and said measured time of arrival of said peak of said further position reference signal as a reference signal time difference measurement.

16. A user equipment according to claim 13, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the user equipment to: monitor for a further position reference signal broadcast by a further network node; measure a time of arrival of a peak in a received signal, said peak being indicative of receipt of said further position reference signal, wherein said network node comprises a reference network node; and transmit a time difference between said measured time of arrival of said peak of said further position reference signal and said measured time of arrival of said peak of said position reference signal as a reference signal time difference measurement.

17. A user equipment according to claim 13, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the user equipment to: monitor for a further position reference signal broadcast by a further network node; measure a time of arrival of a peak in a received signal, said peak being indicative of receipt of said further position reference signal and measuring a time of arrival of at least one further peak in said received signal; and transmit a time offset signal indicative of a time difference between said arrival of said at least one further peak and said peak as part of an enhanced reference time difference signal.

18. A user equipment according to claim 13, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the user equipment to receive a request signal indicating that an enhanced position reference signal time difference measurement should be performed.

19. A method performed at a location server comprising: receiving at least one enhanced reference time difference signal comprising: a reference time difference signal indicating a difference in time of arrival between a peak in a position reference signal from one network node and a peak in a position reference signal from a reference network node; and at least one time offset signal indicating a time difference between an arrival of a peak and a further peak in the same position reference signal received at said user equipment from at least one of said network node and said reference network node; said method further comprising analysing said time offset signal to estimate a time of arrival of said position reference signal at said user equipment travelling to said user equipment via a direct line of sight route; and updating said reference time difference signal where said analysis indicates a direct, line of sight time of arrival of said position reference signal is different to said time of arrival of said peak.

20. A method according to claim 19, comprising an initial step of transmitting an enhanced reference signal time difference measurement to at least one user equipment.

21. A computer program which when executed by a processor is operable to control said processor to perform a method according to claim 19.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable memory storing computer readable instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the location server to perform the method of claim 19.

23. A location server comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code; wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the location server to: receive at least one enhanced reference time difference signal comprising: a reference time difference signal indicating a difference in time of arrival between a peak in a position reference signal from one network node and a peak in a position reference signal from a reference network node; and at least one time offset signal indicating a time difference between an arrival of a peak and a further peak in the same position reference signal received at said user equipment from at least one of said network node and said reference network node; and further cause the location server to: analyze said time offset signal to estimate a time of arrival of said position reference signal at said user equipment travelling to said user equipment via a direct route; and update said reference time difference signal where said analysis indicates a direct route time of arrival of said position reference signal is different to said time of arrival of said peak.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Embodiments of the present invention will now be described further, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 shows an example arrangement of user equipment and a base station providing a cell to illustrate line-of-sight (LoS) and non-line-of-sight (nLoS) paths for the PRS between the user equipment and base station;

(3) FIG. 2 shows another example arrangement of user equipment and a base station providing a cell to illustrate line-of-sight (LoS) and non-line-of-sight (nLoS) paths for the PRS between the user equipment and base station;

(4) FIG. 3 shows reception of PRS signals from two cells according to one embodiment; and

(5) FIG. 4 schematically shows signals transmitted between user equipment and a location server.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

(6) Before discussing the embodiments in any more detail, first an overview will be provided.

(7) Embodiments seek to provide an enhanced reference time difference signal which includes time offset information indicative of a difference in time of arrival of different peaks in a PRS signal received at a user equipment. This additional information has the advantage of being able to be transmitted with a relatively low overhead and yet provides a location server with information that is relevant to whether a time of arrival of a PRS signal used in RSTD measurements might require correction due to multipath effects. In this regard the time offset may be included in signals from all user equipment that have the enhanced capability, or it may be included only in response to a request for such information from the location server.

(8) User equipment with the capability may provide the enhanced signal for a selected subset of network nodes, for example only the reference network node, or only network nodes where the received PRS signal has multiple peaks of similar amplitude. In this regard a predetermined amplitude difference threshold value may be used to determine whether peaks are similar in amplitude or not. This threshold value may be an absolute value or may be a relative value, such that peaks above a certain percentage say 50% of the largest received peak are included in the peak time offset values.

(9) The offset value may be a difference in time between each peak included in the enhanced signal and a first or a baseline peak. Alternatively the offset value may be the difference in time between neighbouring peaks, or it may be an average time of arrival for the different peaks.

(10) Amplitudes values may also be sent along with the time offset values, and these may be absolute amplitude values, offset values indicating a difference in amplitude between peaks and/or an average peak value.

(11) FIG. 1 shows an example arrangement of user equipment and a base station providing a radio cell to illustrate line-of-sight (LoS) and non-line-of-sight (NLoS) paths for the PRS between the user equipment and base station. In this example arrangement, a LoS path L1 exists between the user equipment and base station. Buildings or objects exist which reflect the PRS and as a result of reflections from these, a NLoS path N1 exists between the user equipment and base station, as well as a NLoS path N2.

(12) As can be seen in FIG. 1, the user equipment when monitoring for the PRS detects three peaks P1, P2, P3, which correspond to the signals received over paths L1, N1 and N2, respectively. If the time of arrival of the peaks is used to estimate the location of the user equipment, it can be appreciated that were P2 or P3 to be used rather than P1, the user equipment would appear to be further from the base station than it actually is.

(13) FIG. 2 shows another example of user equipment and a base station providing a cell to illustrate line-of-sight (LoS) and non-line-of-sight (NLoS) paths for the PRS between the user equipment and base station. In this example arrangement, a weak LoS path L1 exists between the user equipment and base station. The strength of the signal travelling via this path is attenuated by buildings. There is also a NLoS path N1 between the user equipment and base station which does not suffer the same attenuation.

(14) As can be seen in FIG. 2, the user equipment when monitoring for the PRS detects two peaks P1, P2 which correspond to the signals received over paths L1 and N1 respectively. The signal P1 received via path L1 is attenuated due to the building and therefore is a much weaker peak than peak P2. Were the user equipment to use peak P2 in its RSTD measurement then again the user equipment would appear to be further from the base station than it actually is.

(15) As can be appreciated when determining a position of a user equipment using a time difference of arrival at a user equipment of PRS signals from different network nodes, the path taken by the signal has an effect on the estimated position. In this regard where a direct path is assumed and where the path taken is not direct then it will appear from the estimation that the user equipment is located further away from the network node than it actually is.

(16) As can be seen from the graphs of the received signals there may be multiple peaks within a noisy signal, and determining which peak corresponds to the arrival of the PRS signal via a direct LoS route may not be straightforward.

(17) To address this various embodiments are provided for reference signal time difference (RSTD) reporting by user equipment to a network node such as a location server where the user equipment measures multiple peaks in the positioning reference signal (PRS), and transmit some indication of the difference in time between the multiple peaks, these embodiments are summarized as follows:

Embodiment 1—First-Peak-Based Time Offset Reporting

(18) In this embodiment, the user equipment detects the first peak (a detected PRS over or exceeding a threshold amount) as the baseline for the reporting of the time of arrival of the rest of the reported peaks in the same cell, as well as for RSTD reporting. The RSTD signal relates to the time difference between this first peak and a peak from a reference cell. Further signals are transmitted indicating a difference in time between receipt of subsequent peaks and this first peak in that cell.

Embodiment 2—Accumulated Time Offset Reporting

(19) In this embodiment, the user equipment detects the first peak (a detected PRS over or exceeding a threshold amount) for RSTD reporting but the reported time offset is the time offset of two contiguous (or adjacent) peaks in the same cell. In other words for each peak subsequent to the first peak an offset time is reported that is a time difference between the time of that peak and an immediately preceding peak.

Embodiment 3—Rich RSTD Reporting for Reference Cell Only

(20) In this embodiment, the user equipment only reports time offset information of the reference cell since reference cell is the baseline of RSTD reporting for all neighbouring cells. It may report it in the manner described in either embodiment 1 or 2.

Embodiment 4—Rich RSTD Reporting for Neighbouring Cell Only

(21) In this embodiment, the user equipment only reports time offset information of neighbouring cells since the reference cell might be the best cell for the UE to estimate the ToA (time of arrival). Again it may report it in the manner described in either embodiment 1 or 2.

Embodiment 5—Recommended-Peak-Based Time Offset Reporting

(22) In this embodiment, the user equipment uses the recommended peak (which is selected by the UE) as the baseline for the reporting of the time of arrival of the other peaks in the same cells as well as in the RSTD reporting. This “recommended” peak may be the highest amplitude peak, or a first peak above a certain threshold.

Embodiment 6—RMS Delay Spread Reporting

(23) In this embodiment, the time offset mentioned in Embodiments 1 to 4 is replaced by a root mean square (RMS) delay spread that is the average time delay between each of the peaks.

Embodiment 7—Amplitude Information Reporting

(24) In this embodiment, the user equipment information relating to the amplitude of one or more peaks is reported.

(25) It will be appreciated that features of these embodiments may be combined as appropriate. Each of these embodiments will now be described in more detail.

Embodiment 1 First-Peak-Based Time Offset Reporting

(26) First-peak-based time offset reporting uses the first peak (over some threshold) as the baseline for the reporting of the time of arrival of the rest of the reported peaks in the same cells as well as for RSTD reporting.

(27) As illustrated in FIG. 3, consider the example where there are two cells, cell #1 and cell #2. The ToAs of the measured first three earliest peaks from cell #1 to the UE is p.sub.1,1, p.sub.1,2, p.sub.1,3 and p.sub.1,1<p.sub.1,2<p.sub.1,3. The ToAs of the measured first three earliest peaks from cell #2 to this UE is p.sub.2,1, p.sub.2,2, p.sub.2,3 and p.sub.2,1<.sub.p2,2<p.sub.2,3. Cell #2 is the reference cell for RSTD reporting. It should be noted that P1,1 is the first peak of the first cell, while P1,2 is the second peak of the first cell. Similarly P2,1 is the first peak of the second cell.

(28) Then the RSTD reporting information from UE and corresponding to cell #1 and cell #2 typically includes: Time offset in the reference cell (cell #2) Δ.sub.cell{2},peak{2,1}=P.sub.2,2−P.sub.2,1 Δ.sub.cell{2},peak{3,1}=P.sub.2,3−P.sub.2,1 Time offset in the neighboring cell (cell #1) Δ.sub.cell{1},peak{2,1}=P.sub.1,2−P.sub.1,1 Δ.sub.cell{1}, peak{3,1}=P.sub.1,3−P.sub.1,1 RSTD corresponding to neighboring cell (cell #1) and reference cell (cell #2) Δ.sub.cell{1,2},peak{1,1}=P.sub.1,1−P.sub.2,1

(29) It will be appreciated that time offset reporting is beneficial for overhead reduction so that the UE needs fewer bits for multiple hypothesis reporting.

(30) Signalling Design

(31) In the existing LTE/LTE-A network, the existing signalling for RSTD measurement reporting is:

(32) TABLE-US-00001 OTDOA-SignalMeasurementInformation ::= SEQUENCE {   systemFrameNumber BIT STRING (SIZE (10)),   physCellIdRef INTEGER (0..503),   cellGlobalIdRef ECGI OPTIONAL,   earfcnRef ARFCN-ValueEUTRA OPTIONAL,  -- Cond NotSameAsRef0   referenceQuality OTDOA-MeasQuality OPTIONAL,   neighbourMeasurementList   NeighbourMeasurementList,   ...,   [[ earfcnRef-v9a0 ARFCN-ValueEUTRA-v9a0 OPTIONAL   -- Cond NotSameAsRef1   ]] } NeighbourMeasurementList ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE(1..24)) OF NeighbourMeasurementElement NeighbourMeasurementElement ::= SEQUENCE {   physCellIdNeighbour INTEGER (0..503),   cellGlobalIdNeighbour ECGI OPTIONAL,   earfcnNeighbour ARFCN-ValueEUTRA OPTIONAL,  -- Cond NotSameAsRef2   rstd INTEGER (0..12711),   rstd-Quality OTDOA-MeasQuality,   ...,   [[ earfcnNeighbour-v9a0 ARFCN-ValueEUTRA-v9a0 OPTIONAL   -- Cond NotSameAsRef3   ]] }

(33) In this embodiment, for first-peak-based time offset reporting, the existing signalling above may be updated to:

(34) TABLE-US-00002 OTDOA-SignalMeasurementInformation ::= SEQUENCE {   systemFrameNumber BIT STRING (SIZE (10)),   physCellIdRef INTEGER (0..503),   cellGlobalIdRef ECGI OPTIONAL,   earfcnRef ARFCN-ValueEUTRA OPTIONAL,  -- Cond NotSameAsRef0   referenceQuality OTDOA-MeasQuality OPTIONAL,   TimeOffsetSet TimeOffset OPTIONAL,   neighbourMeasurementList   NeighbourMeasurementList,   ...,   [[ earfcnRef-v9a0 ARFCN-ValueEUTRA-v9a0 OPTIONAL   -- Cond NotSameAsRef1   ]] } NeighbourMeasurementList ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE(1..24)) OF NeighbourMeasurementElement NeighbourMeasurementElement ::= SEQUENCE {   physCellIdNeighbour INTEGER (0..503),   cellGlobalIdNeighbour ECGI OPTIONAL,   earfcnNeighbour ARFCN-ValueEUTRA OPTIONAL,  -- Cond NotSameAsRef2   rstd INTEGER (0..12711),   TimeOffetSet TimeOffset OPTIONAL,   rstd-Quality OTDOA-MeasQuality,   ...,   [[ earfcnNeighbour-v9a0 ARFCN-ValueEUTRA-v9a0 OPTIONAL   -- Cond NotSameAsRef3   ]] } where TimeOffsetSet ::= SEQUENCE {size(1..x)     TimeOffset INTEGER (o..y), }

(35) TABLE-US-00003 Item Details x Indicate the maximal number of reported time offsets for one cell. y Indicate the maximal value for time offset of considered reported peaks. The detailed time offset could be obtained by pre-defined Table.

(36) It will be appreciated that another example for y is bit-value rather than integer value. Where it is an integer value fewer bits are required to report the value, and the integer is representative of the time offset value. Thus, it may indicate a position in a table holding time values, or it may simply map to a particular value.

(37) Thus, as can be seen the reporting scheme is similar to a conventional RSTD reporting scheme with the addition of the time offset set of values.

Embodiment 2—Accumulated Time Offset Reporting

(38) In accumulated time offset reporting, the reported time offset is the time offset of two contiguous peaks. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 3, the RSTD reporting information from UE and corresponding to cell #1 and cell #2 includes: Time offset in the reference cell (cell #2) Δ.sub.cell{2},peak{2,1}=p.sub.2,2−p.sub.2,1 Δ.sub.cell{2},peak{3,2}=p.sub.2,3−p.sub.2,2 Time offset in the neighboring cell (cell #1) Δ.sub.cell{1},peak{2,1}=p.sub.1,2−p.sub.1,1 Δ.sub.cell{1}, peak{3,2}=p.sub.1,3−p.sub.1,2 RSTD corresponding to neighboring cell (cell #1) and reference cell (cell #2) Δ.sub.cell{1,2},peak{1,1}=p.sub.1,1−p.sub.2,1

(39) An advantage of this embodiment is a reduced overhead. A disadvantage of this embodiment is possible accumulated time offset reporting error.

(40) Signalling Design

(41) The signalling design for accumulated time offset reporting is similar to first-peak-based time offset reporting.

Embodiment 3—Rich or Enhanced RSTD Reporting for Reference Cell Only

(42) This embodiment only reports time offset information of the reference cell for further overhead reduction since the reference cell is the baseline of RSTD reporting for all neighbouring cells.

Embodiment 4—Rich RSTD Reporting for Neighbouring Cell Only

(43) This embodiment reports time offset information of neighbouring cells only for further overhead reduction since reference cell might be the best cell for the UE to estimate the ToA.

Embodiment 5—Recommended-Peak-Based Time Offset Reporting

(44) In contrast to Embodiment 1, recommended-peak-based time offset reporting means that the baseline is selected by the UE and might not be the first peak, but may instead be another of the peaks. So the time offset value might correspond to a negative value or position value. For example, if the UE think the second peak has higher probability as the LoS than the first peak, then the UE could use the second peak as the baseline peak. It will be appreciated that this approach can also be used in Embodiments 2, 3 and 4 where other than the first peak is selected.

Embodiment 6—RMS Delay Spread Reporting

(45) The time offset mentioned in Embodiments 1 to 4 is replaced by the root mean square (RMS) delay spread, which is the difference between the time of arrival of the earliest significant multipath component and the time of arrival of the latest multipath components.

Embodiment 7—Amplitude Information Reporting

(46) In a first arrangement of this embodiment, the time offset information of Embodiments 1 to 5 and the RMS delay spread in Embodiment 6 is associated with corresponding amplitude offset(s) (i.e. the difference between the strength of a specific peak and the strength of a baseline peak) reporting and one baseline amplitude information for each cell.

(47) In a second arrangement of this embodiment, the amplitude information (i.e. strength information) of the baseline peak in each cell and the amplitude information of each additional peak in Embodiments 1 to 5 and the RMS delay spread in Embodiment 6 are also reported by the UE.

(48) FIG. 4 shows an example of signalling from a location server via a network node to a user equipment. In this regard the location server may be located on a network node or it may be more centrally located in a control node of the network. The location server transmits a request for enhanced RSTD measurements, and the UE may in some embodiments reply with an indication that it can provide such measurements. In other embodiments the UE may simply provide or not provide the enhanced signals depending on its capabilities.

(49) The network nodes will then broadcast their position reference signals PRS, and the UE will respond with enhanced RSTD signals. These signals include a difference in time of arrival between a PRS from one node and from the reference node (a conventional RSTD signal) and a time offset signal indicating a time difference between time of arrival of different peaks in at least one of the received PRS signals.

(50) The location server will estimate the UE's position from the RSTD signals and may correct these signals based on the time offset signal where it determines that the peak value used for the time of arrival for the RSTD signal may not have been a peak due to a signal taking a LoS route from the node to the UE.

(51) A person of skill in the art would readily recognize that steps of various above-described methods can be performed by programmed computers. Herein, some embodiments are also intended to cover program storage devices, e.g., digital data storage media, which are machine or computer readable and encode machine-executable or computer-executable programs of instructions, wherein said instructions perform some or all of the steps of said above-described methods. The program storage devices may be, e.g., digital memories, magnetic storage media such as a magnetic disks and magnetic tapes, hard drives, or optically readable digital data storage media. The embodiments are also intended to cover computers programmed to perform said steps of the above-described methods.

(52) The functions of the various elements shown in the Figures, including any functional blocks labelled as “processors” or “logic”, may be provided through the use of dedicated hardware as well as hardware capable of executing software in association with appropriate software. When provided by a processor, the functions may be provided by a single dedicated processor, by a single shared processor, or by a plurality of individual processors, some of which may be shared. Moreover, explicit use of the term “processor” or “controller” or “logic” should not be construed to refer exclusively to hardware capable of executing software, and may implicitly include, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, network processor, application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), field programmable gate array (FPGA), read only memory (ROM) for storing software, random access memory (RAM), and non-volatile storage. Other hardware, conventional and/or custom, may also be included. Similarly, any switches shown in the Figures are conceptual only. Their function may be carried out through the operation of program logic, through dedicated logic, through the interaction of program control and dedicated logic, or even manually, the particular technique being selectable by the implementer as more specifically understood from the context.

(53) It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any block diagrams herein represent conceptual views of illustrative circuitry embodying the principles of the invention. Similarly, it will be appreciated that any flow charts, flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, pseudo code, and the like represent various processes which may be substantially represented in computer readable medium and so executed by a computer or processor, whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown.

(54) The description and drawings merely illustrate the principles of the invention. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the invention and are included within its spirit and scope. Furthermore, all examples recited herein are principally intended expressly to be only for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor(s) to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions. Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and embodiments of the invention, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass equivalents thereof.