Removing RF interference through scan rate locking

• US 10,305,520 B2
• Filed: 05/26/2017
• Issued: 05/28/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Shui, Tao, Land, Brian R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Khanh C
• Application Number:
  US15/607,029
• Publication Number:
  US 20170346511A1
• Time in Patent Office: 732 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/00 Measuring for diagnostic purposes radiation diagnosis A61B6/00; diagnosis by ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves A61B8/00; Identification of persons
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02416 using photoplethysmograph signals, e.g. generated by infrared radiation A61B5/14552 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7203 for noise prevention, reduction or removal
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0475 with means for limiting noise, interference or distortion H04B1/0483 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/0491 with frequency synthesizers, frequency converters or modulators
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/3855 carried in a belt or harness
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/3861 carried in a hand or on fingers

Abstract

This relates to methods and apparatus for mitigating effects of the presence of RF communication signals. In some examples, non-linearity and rectification of the RF communication signals can become rectified in sensor circuitry such that spectral components of a frame or sub-frame timing of the RF communication signals can be aliased into the sensor circuitry output within a bandwidth of interest. In some examples, a notch filter can be employed to remove the aliased RF communication signals from the sensor output. In some examples, a sampling rate used for sampling the user'"'"'s physiological signals can be generated such that the sampling of the sensor is synchronous with the RF communication signals. In some examples, the sampling rate for the sensor can be generated as an integer multiple or integer submultiple of the frame or sub-frame timing of the RF communication signals.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating a sensor scan rate synchronized with radio frequency communication signals transmitted proximate to a sensor;

while the radio frequency communication signals are being transmitted, sensing data at the sensor proximate to the radio frequency communications signals at the sensor scan rate;

generating a second sensor scan rate based on a reference clock source, the second sensor scan rate being asynchronous to the radio frequency communication signals; and

during a second time interval, different from the first time interval, sensing data at the sensor proximate to the radio frequency communication signals at the second sensor scan rate.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the radio frequency communication signals are active,

sensing sensor data at the sensor scan rate in accordance with a determination that the radio frequency communication signals are active; and

sensing sensor data at the second sensor scan rate in accordance with a determination that the radio frequency communication signals are inactive.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining whether the radio frequency communication signals are active comprises receiving a flag signal from a radio frequency circuitry located proximate to the sensor.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein determining whether the radio frequency communication signals are active comprises detecting a presence of communication frames in the radio frequency signals, the communication frames having an associated communication frame rate.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

an output of the sensor at the sensor scan rate while the radio frequency communication signals are active includes a first DC value based on the radio frequency communication signals;

an output of the sensor at the second sensor scan rate while the radio frequency communication signals are active includes a second DC value based on the radio frequency communication signals, the first DC value greater than the second DC value; and

a difference between the first DC value and the second DC value exists for a fixed signal strength of the radio frequency communication signals.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor scan rate is an integer multiple or integer sub-multiple of a communication frame rate of the radio frequency communication signals.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the sensor scan rate synchronized with the radio frequency communication signals comprises receiving a frame timing signal or sub-frame timing signal from a radio frequency circuitry and scaling the received frame timing signal or sub-frame timing signal to a desired sensor scan rate frequency.

8. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a set of instructions, that when executed by a processor causes the processor to:

generate a sensor scan rate synchronized with radio frequency communication signals transmitted proximate to a sensor;

while the radio frequency signals are being transmitted, sense data at the sensor proximate to the radio frequency communications signals at the sensor scan rate;

generate a second sensor scan rate based on a reference clock source, the second sensor scan rate being asynchronous to the communication frame rate; and

during a second time interval, sense data at the sensor proximate to the radio frequency communications signals at the second sensor scan rate.

9. The non-transitory computer readable store medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

determine whether the radio frequency circuitry is operating,

sense sensor data at the sensor scan rate in accordance with a determination that a radio frequency circuitry transmitting the radio frequency communications signals is operating; and

sense sensor data at the second sensor scan rate in accordance with a determination that the radio frequency circuitry is not operating.

10. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein determining whether the radio frequency communication signals are active comprises receiving a flag signal from the radio frequency circuitry located proximate to the sensor.

11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein determining whether the radio frequency communication signals are active comprises detecting a presence of communication frames in the radio frequency communication signals, the communication frames having an associated communication frame rate.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein:

an output of the sensor at the sensor scan rate while the radio frequency communication signals are active includes a first DC value based on the radio frequency communication signals;

an output of the sensor at the second sensor scan rate while the radio frequency communication signals are active includes a second DC value based on the radio frequency communication signals, the first DC value greater than the second DC value; and

a difference between the first DC value and the second DC value exists for a fixed signal strength of the radio frequency communication signals.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the sensor scan rate is an integer multiple or integer sub-multiple of a communication frame rate of the radio frequency communication signals.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein generating the sensor scan rate synchronized with the radio frequency communication signals comprises receiving a frame timing signal or sub-frame timing signal from a radio frequency circuitry and scaling the received frame timing signal or sub-frame timing signal to a desired sensor scan rate frequency.

15. An electronic device comprising:

sensor circuitry configured to sense data at a scan rate;

a reference clock signal generator configured to generate a reference clock signal;

clock generation circuitry configured to generate the scan rate based on an input clock signal; and

clock selection circuitry configured to selectively couple the input clock signal to one of the reference clock signal and a frame rate reference signal, the frame rate reference signal synchronized with radio frequency communication signals transmitted proximate to the sensor circuitry.

16. The electronic device of claim 15, further comprising:

a light emitter;

wherein the sensor circuitry is configured to sense light transmitted by the light emitter and reflected by a user'"'"'s skin.

17. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the reference clock signal is asynchronous to a transmission frame rate of the radio frequency communication signals transmitted proximate to the sensor circuitry.

18. The electronic device of claim 15, further comprising second clock generation circuitry configured to generate the frame rate reference signal based on a frame rate or sub-frame rate of the radio frequency communication signals.

19. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the clock selection circuitry is configured to:

determine whether the radio frequency communication signals are active;

couple the input clock signal to the frame rate reference signal in accordance with a determination that the radio frequency communication signals are active; and

couple the input clock signal to the reference clock signal in accordance with a determination that the radio frequency communication signals are inactive.

20. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein determining whether the radio frequency communication signals are active comprises detecting a presence of communication frames in the radio frequency communication signals, the communication frames having an associated communication frame rate.

21. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein the sensor scan rate is an integer multiple or integer sub-multiple of a communication frame rate of the radio frequency communication signals when the clock selection circuitry couples the input clock signal to the frame rate reference signal.