Electronic devices having millimeter wave wireless data transfer capabilities

• US 10,547,339 B2
• Filed: 01/24/2017
• Issued: 01/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Shiu, Boon W., Jacob, Jobin, Rivera Espinoza, Jorge L., Baratzadeh, Kiavash, Sanguinetti, Louie J., Caballero, Ruben
• Primary Examiner(s): Levi, Dameon E
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hu, Jennifer F
• Application Number:
  US15/414,287
• Publication Number:
  US 20170222301A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,099 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/2291 used in bluetooth or WI-FI devices of Wireless Local Area Networks [WLAN] H01Q1/241 takes precedence; WLAN in general H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/243 with built-in antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3888 Arrangements for carrying or protecting transceivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/54 using the same frequency for two directions of communication H04B1/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/1461 Suppression of signals in the return path, i.e. bidirectional control circuits

Abstract

An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include one or more antennas and first and second radio-frequency modules. The device may include a conductive housing having dielectric antenna windows. The first module may generate first millimeter wave signals in a first communications band. The antenna may transmit the first signals to external equipment through the dielectric window at a transmit power level. The antenna may receive control signals in the second communications band from the external equipment through the dielectric window. The first and second communications bands may include frequencies greater than 10 GHz. The second module may pass the received control signals to the first module to adjust the transmit power level of the first signals transmitted by the antenna. A duplexer may be interposed between the modules and the antenna for isolating the first and second communications bands.

Claims

1. An electronic device that wirelessly communicates with an external electronic device, the electronic device comprising:

a conductive housing;

a dielectric antenna window in the conductive housing;

a first radio-frequency transceiver that generates first Extremely High Frequency (EHF) signals in a first EHF band;

an antenna that transmits the first EHF signals to the external electronic device through the dielectric antenna window and that receives second EHF signals from the external electronic device through the dielectric antenna window, wherein the second EHF signals are in a second EHF band that is different from the first EHF band;

a second radio-frequency transceiver that receives the second EHF signals from the antenna; and

a duplexer having a first port coupled to the first radio-frequency transceiver, a second port coupled to the second radio-frequency transceiver, and a third port coupled to the antenna, wherein the duplexer is configured to isolate the first EHF signals from the second EHF signals, the antenna is configured to transmit the first EHF signals at a transmit power level, the antenna is configured to receive control signals from the external electronic device in the second EHF band, the second radio-frequency transceiver is configured to convey, via an inter-chip control path, the control signals received by the antenna to the first radio-frequency transceiver, and the first radio-frequency transceiver is configured to adjust the transmit power level based on the control signals.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the first radio-frequency transceiver is formed on a first radio-frequency module and the second radio-frequency transceiver is formed on a second radio-frequency module that is different from the first radio-frequency module.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the duplexer comprises a resonant waveguide structure.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the first and second EHF bands each comprise frequencies above 10 GHz.

5. The electronic device defined in claim 4, wherein the first EHF band comprises a 62.5 GHz frequency band and the second EHF band comprises a 58.5 GHz frequency band.

6. The electronic device defined in claim 1, the electronic device further comprising:

processing circuitry configured to identify a link quality associated with the received second EHF signals and configured to generate the control signals based on the identified link quality, wherein the antenna is configured to transmit the control signals to the external electronic device through the dielectric antenna window in the first EHF band, and the transmitted control signals instruct the external electronic device to adjust the transmit power level of the second EHF signals.

7. The electronic device defined in claim 1, further comprising:

an additional antenna, wherein the additional antenna is configured to transmit the first EHF signals to the external electronic device through the dielectric antenna window and is configured to receive the second EHF signals from the external electronic device through the dielectric antenna window.

8. The electronic device defined in claim 1, further comprising:

a phased antenna array that includes the antenna; and

control circuitry, wherein the control circuitry is configured to control the phased antenna array to perform beam steering operations on the first EHF signals through the dielectric antenna window.

9. The electronic device defined in claim 1, further comprising:

baseband processor circuitry coupled to an input of the first radio-frequency transceiver, wherein the baseband processor circuitry is configured to pass baseband signals corresponding to the first EHF signals to the first radio-frequency transceiver without performing any packetization of the baseband signals.

10. The electronic device defined in claim 1, further comprising:

a display having a display cover layer, wherein the conductive housing comprises a planar rear surface for the electronic device that opposes the display cover layer, the conductive housing comprises sidewall structures extending from the planar rear surface to the display cover layer, and the dielectric antenna window is formed in an opening in the planar rear surface of the conductive housing.

11. The electronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the antenna is configured to transmit the first EHF signals at a transmit power level, the electronic device further comprising:

control circuitry configured to adjust the transmit power level based on the second EHF signals received from the external electronic device.

12. The electronic device defined in claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is configured to determine whether a link quality associated with the received second EHF signals is satisfactory and, in response to identifying that the link quality associated with the received second EHF signals is unsatisfactory, generate a wireless control signal that identifies a power level adjustment for the external electronic device and transmit the wireless control signal to the external electronic device over the antenna in the first EHF band.

13. The electronic device defined in claim 1, further comprising:

a baseband processor coupled to the first and second radio-frequency transceivers.

14. The electronic device defined in claim 13, wherein the baseband processor is configured to perform amplitude-shift keying (ASK) modulation on a stream of data to generate ASK modulated data, the baseband processor being further configured to provide the ASK modulated data to first radio-frequency transceiver.

15. The electronic device defined in claim 14, wherein the baseband processor is configured to perform ASK demodulation on an additional stream of data received from the second radio-frequency transceiver.

16. The electronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the second radio-frequency transceiver is configured to convey the control signals to the first radio-frequency transceiver over the inter-chip control path using an Inter-Chip Communication (ICC) protocol.

17. The electronic device defined in claim 16, wherein the first radio-frequency transceiver is formed on a first integrated circuit chip, the second radio-frequency transceiver is formed on a second integrated circuit chip that is different from the integrated circuit chip, the first radio-frequency transceiver comprises debugging circuitry, that is-configured to generate a pseudo-random sequence of test bits and is configured to inject the pseudo-random sequence of test bits onto the antenna for transmission to the external electronic device through the dielectric antenna window, the electronic device further comprising a baseband processor coupled to the first and second radio-frequency transceivers, the baseband processor is configured to provide a stream of data to the first radio-frequency transceiver without packetizing the stream of data, the baseband processor is configured to perform amplitude-shift keying (ASK) modulation on a stream of data to generate ASK modulated data, the baseband processor is configured to provide the ASK modulated data to first radio-frequency transceiver, and the baseband processor is configured to perform ASK demodulation on an additional stream of data received from the second radio-frequency transceiver.

18. An electronic device that wirelessly communicates with an external electronic device, the electronic device comprising:

a conductive housing;

a dielectric antenna window in the conductive housing;

a first radio-frequency transceiver that generates first Extremely High Frequency (EHF) signals in a first EHF band;

an antenna that transmits the first EHF signals to the external electronic device through the dielectric antenna window and that receives second EHF signals from the external electronic device through the dielectric antenna window, wherein the second EHF signals are in a second EHF band that is different from the first EHF band;

a second radio-frequency transceiver that receives the second EHF signals from the antenna;

a duplexer having a first port coupled to the first radio-frequency transceiver, a second port coupled to the second radio-frequency transceiver, and a third port coupled to the antenna, wherein the duplexer is configured to isolate the first EHF signals from the second EHF signals, wherein the first radio-frequency transceiver comprises;

debugging circuitry, the debugging circuitry being configured to generate a pseudo-random sequence of test bits and to inject the pseudo-random sequence of test bits onto the antenna for transmission to the external electronic device through the dielectric antenna window, wherein the antenna is configured to receive control signals in the second EHF band from the external electronic device, the external electronic device being configured to generate the control signals based on a link quality identified by the external electronic device based on the pseudo-random sequence of test bits; and

processing circuitry configured to adjust a transmit power level of the first EHF signals based on the control signals received from the external electronic device.