SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COMMUNICATING DIGITAL INFORMATION USING TIME-AND-FREQUENCY-BOUNDED BASE FUNCTIONS
Systems and methods for efficiently conveying one or more broadband communication channels over a transmission medium. Communication is effected by transforming an incoming digital bit stream into a Time-and-Frequency-Bounded (TFB) information stream that includes a plurality of TFB packets. This transformation is accomplished through the use of a plurality of TFB basis functions. The TFB information stream is then transmitted over the transmission medium. More particularly, digital bit streams carried on one or more incoming channels are in the form of binary "on" and "off" bits. These digital bits are converted into a plurality of TFB waveform components which together comprise a TFB packet. The conversion process maps each of respective incoming digital bits to a corresponding one of a group of TFB functions, such that a first group of n bits is mapped to a first TFB function, a second group is mapped to a second TFB function, and so on, until the Nth TFB function is reached, whereupon the process cycles back to the first TFB function. In any case, the value or status of a group of bits is represented by a corresponding weighing factor for the corresponding TFB function. When weighed, each respective TFB function specifies the transmission of a corresponding TFB waveform component. Each waveform component is substantially confined within a range of values in both the frequency and time domains.