Patent 7907670 was granted and assigned to Panasonic on March, 2011 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A data communication apparatus which improves security against eavesdropping is provided for secret communication using Y-00 protocol. In a data transmitting apparatus 101, a multi-level code generation section 111 generates, based on key information 11, a multi-level code sequence 12 in which a signal level changes so as to be approximately random numbers. A multi-level processing section 112 generates a multi-level signal 13 having a plurality of levels each corresponding to a combination between information data 10 and the multi-level code sequence 12. A level conversion section 113 divides the plurality of levels of the multi-level signal 13 into several groups, and allocates one level of a converted multi-level signal 21 to a plurality of levels included in each of the several groups in an overlapped manner. The level conversion section 113 then converts the multi-level signal 13 into the converted multi-level signal 21. A modulator section 114 modulates the converted multi-level signal 21 and outputs a modulated signal 14.