NFC receiver and operation method of circuit comprising the NFC receiver

• US 10,361,735 B2
• Filed: 05/25/2017
• Issued: 07/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Myoung, Seong-sik, Kim, Jun-ho, Song, Il-jong
• Primary Examiner(s): Ayotunde, Ayodeji O
• Application Number:
  US15/604,918
• Publication Number:
  US 20180123627A1
• Time in Patent Office: 789 Days
• Field of Search: 455 411
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/01 Arrangements for reducing harmonics or ripples
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/12 of the resonant type
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/20 Automatic control H03G3/005 takes precedence; combined with volume compression or expansion H03G7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/1036 with automatic suppression of narrow band noise or interference, e.g. by using tuneable notch filters H04B1/123 takes precedence; filter circuits H03H
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/24 Inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/70 specially adapted for specific purposes

Abstract

A method of operating a near-field communication (NFC) circuit, the method including: receiving an interference signal and a data signal through an antenna; adjusting magnitudes of the received interference signal and the received data signal; down-converting frequencies of the interference signal and the data signal, the magnitudes of which are adjusted; filtering the data signal by removing the frequency down-converted interference signal; and adjusting a magnitude of the filtered data signal. The adjusting of the magnitudes of the received interference signal and the received data signal may include adjusting the magnitudes of the interference signal and the data signal such that linearity of the data signal is maintained during signal processing performed on the interference signal and the data signal in the down-converting of the frequencies of the interference signal and the data signal, the filtering of the data signal, and the adjusting of the magnitude of the filtered data signal.

Claims

1. A method of operating a near-field communication (NFC) circuit, the method comprising:

receiving an interference signal and a data signal through an antenna;

adjusting magnitudes of the received interference signal and the received data signal;

down-converting frequencies of the interference signal and the data signal;

filtering the data signal by removing the frequency down-converted interference signal; and

adjusting a magnitude of the filtered data signal,

wherein the adjusting the magnitudes of the received interference signal and the received data signal comprises adjusting the magnitudes of the interference signal and the data signal such that linearity of the data signal is maintained during signal processing performed on the interference signal and the data signal in the down-converting of the frequencies of the interference signal and the data signal, the filtering of the data signal, and the adjusting of the magnitude of the filtered data signal,

wherein the adjusting the magnitude of the filtered data signal further comprises;

adjusting, at a first time, the magnitude of the filtered data signal based on a first gain value;

performing, at a second time later than the first time, analog to digital conversion of the data signal having the adjusted magnitude;

detecting a magnitude of the data signal on which the analog-to-digital conversion is performed; and

adjusting the first gain value in response to a determination that the data signal having the detected magnitude cannot be demodulated without saturation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the interference signal comprises a wireless power transmission signal output from a wireless power transmission system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the down-converting the frequencies of the interference signal and the data signal comprises converting a frequency of the data signal to an intermediate frequency (IF).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the adjusting of the magnitudes of the received interference signal and the received data signal comprises:

attenuating the magnitudes of the received interference signal and the received data signal based on a first attenuation value;

detecting the attenuated magnitudes of the interference signal and the data signal; and

in response to a determination based on the detected attenuated magnitudes that the linearity is not maintained, adjusting the first attenuation value.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the detecting of the attenuated magnitudes comprises detecting power of at least one of the interference signal and the data signal.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the frequencies of the interference signal and the data signal are down-converted based on a local oscillation signal having a frequency for communication of the NFC circuit.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the filtering the data signal comprises, in response to at least one of a plurality of harmonics of the interference signal having a same frequency as a frequency for communication of the NFC circuit, performing high pass filtering on the data signal.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the filtering the data signal comprises, in response to each of a plurality of harmonics of the interference signal having a different frequency from a frequency for communication of the NFC circuit, performing band pass filtering on the data signal.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the adjusting the magnitude of the filtered data signal comprises adjusting the magnitude of the filtered data signal such that the filtered data signal has a magnitude sufficient for demodulating without saturation.

10. The method of claim 9,

wherein the adjusting the magnitude of the filtered data comprises one of amplifying the magnitude of the filtered data and attenuating the magnitude of the filtered data.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the detecting the magnitude of the analog-to-digital converted data signal comprises detecting power of the analog-to-digital converted data signal.

12. A method of operating a near-field communication (NFC) circuit, the method comprising:

receiving a first signal including an interference signal or a modulated data signal through an antenna;

attenuating a magnitude of the received first signal;

down-converting a frequency of the first signal having the attenuated magnitude based on a local oscillation signal having a frequency for communication of the NFC circuit;

filtering the modulated data signal included in the frequency down-converted first signal; and

adjusting a magnitude of the filtered data signal,

wherein the attenuating the magnitude of the received first signal comprises attenuating the magnitude of the first signal such that linearity of the modulated data signal is maintained in signal processing performed on the first signal in the down-converting of the frequency of the first signal, the filtering of the modulated data signal, and the adjusting of the magnitude of the filtered data signal, and

wherein the adjusting the magnitude of the filtered data signal comprises adjusting the magnitude of the filtered data signal such that the filtered data signal has a sufficient magnitude for demodulating without saturation,

wherein the adjusting the magnitude of the filtered data signal further comprises;

adjusting, at a first time, the magnitude of the filtered data signal based on a first gain value;

performing, at a second time later than the first time, analog to digital conversion of the data signal having the adjusted magnitude;

detecting a magnitude of the data signal on which the analog-to-digital conversion is performed; and

adjusting the first gain value in response to a determination that the data signal having the detected magnitude cannot be demodulated without saturation.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the attenuating the magnitude of the received first signal further comprises:

attenuating the magnitude of the received first signal based on a first attenuation value;

detecting the attenuated magnitude of the attenuated first signal and a frequency of the attenuated first signal; and

adjusting the first attenuation value in response to a determination, based on one of the detected attenuated magnitude and the frequency of the first signal, that the linearity is not maintained.

14. A near-field communication (NFC) receiver performing communication through an antenna, the NFC receiver comprising:

a first adjusting unit configured to receive a data signal or an interference signal through the antenna, and attenuate a magnitude of the data signal or the interference signal based on a first attenuation value;

a mixer configured to down-convert a frequency of the data signal or the interference signal output by the first adjusting unit;

a filter configured to filter the data signal from the data signal or the interference signal output by the mixer;

a second adjusting unit configured to receive the filtered data signal and adjust a magnitude of the data signal based on a first gain value; and

an automatic gain controller (AGC) configured to adjust the first attenuation value based on the magnitude of the data signal or the interference signal that is attenuated using the first adjusting unit, and to adjust the first gain value based on the magnitude of the data signal that is adjusted using the second adjusting unit,

wherein adjusting the magnitude of the data signal comprises one of amplifying the magnitude of the data signal and attenuating the magnitude of the data signal, and

wherein the second adjusting unit comprises;

a variable gain amplifier configured to receive the filtered data signal and adjust the data signal based on the first gain value, adjusting the data signal comprising one of amplifying the data signal and attenuating the data signal;

an analog-to-digital converter configured to receive an output signal of the variable gain amplifier and perform analog-to-digital conversion on the output signal to output the analog-to-digital converted signal.

15. The NFC receiver of claim 14, wherein the first adjusting unit comprises:

a variable attenuator configured to receive the data signal or the interference signal and attenuate the magnitude of the data signal or the interference signal based on the first attenuation value; and

a first power detector configured to detect power of an output signal of the variable attenuator.

16. The NFC receiver of claim 14, wherein the second adjusting unit further comprises:

a second power detector configured to detect power of the output signal of the analog-to-digital converter.

17. The NFC receiver of claim 14, wherein the AGC comprises a first table,

wherein the first attenuation value is further adjusted based on the first table in addition to the magnitude of the data signal or the interference signal attenuated by the first adjusting unit, and

wherein the first gain value is further adjusted based on the first table and the magnitude of the data signal adjusted by the second adjusting unit.

18. The NFC receiver of claim 14, wherein the NFC receiver is connected in parallel to a wireless power receiver operating based on a wireless power transmission signal received from an outside of the NFC receiver, through the antenna.

19. The NFC receiver of claim 14, wherein the NFC receiver receives the data signal or the interference signal via a matching network connected between the antenna and the NFC receiver.