Wireless communication circuit, wireless communication apparatus, and wireless communication system

• US 20050079825A1
• Filed: 08/23/2004
• Published: 04/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Omori, Manabu, Nakabayashi, Jiro
• Granted Patent: US 7,317,903 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/67.110
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/245 taking into account received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A wireless communication circuit in accordance with the present invention, is the wireless communication circuit having an amplifier for amplifying a signal, includes an amplification route in which the signal passes through the amplifier; a bypass route for bypassing the amplifier; and a route-selector for selecting one of the amplification route and the bypass route. This arrangement prevents an amplification of a signal, being transmitted or being received, when a communication counterpart is in a close distance, thereby reducing an unnecessary power consumption.

Claims

1. A wireless communication circuit for a terminal for transmitting and receiving information, the wireless communication circuit comprising:

an antenna;

an amplifier to be connected to the antenna;

a bypass route for bypassing a signal route passing the amplifier; and

a first switch for switching over to select one of (a) the signal route passing the amplifier and (b) the bypass route.

2. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 1 further comprising:

a controller for controlling switching-over of the first switch in accordance with a strength of a reception signal.

3. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 2 wherein:

the controller includes a generating section for generating a first control signal that is for controlling the switching-over of the first switch, in accordance with a received signal strength indicator, which is the strength of the reception signal.

4. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 2, further comprising:

a second switch for allowing and stopping supply of power to the amplifier,

the controller having a control section for generating a second control signal that is for controlling the second switch in concert with the switching-over of the first switch.

5. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 1 further comprising:

a fixed attenuator on the bypass route.

6. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 1 further comprising:

a variable attenuator on the bypass route.

7. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

the amplifier is a power amplifier for amplifying a transmission signal that is to be sent to the antenna.

8. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

the amplifier is a low-noise amplifier for amplifying a reception signal received via the antenna.

9. A wireless communication apparatus, comprising:

a wireless communication circuit for a terminal for transmitting and receiving information, the wireless communication circuit including;

an antenna;

an amplifier to be connected to the antenna;

a bypass route for bypassing a signal route passing the amplifier; and

a first switch for switching over to select one of (a) the signal route passing the amplifier and (b) the bypass route.

10. A wireless communication system comprising:

a wireless communication apparatus having a wireless communication circuit for a terminal for transmitting and receiving information, the wireless communication apparatus including;

a wireless communication apparatus having;

an antenna;

an amplifier to be connected to the antenna;

a bypass route for bypassing a signal route passing the amplifier; and

a first switch for switching over to select one of (a) the signal route passing the amplifier and (b) the bypass route.

11. A wireless communication circuit including an amplifier for amplifying a signal, the wireless communication circuit comprising:

an amplification route in which the signal passes through the amplifier;

a bypass route for bypassing the amplifier; and

a route-selector for selecting one of the amplification route and the bypass route.

12. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 11 wherein:

the route-selector selects one of the amplification route and the bypass route in accordance with a strength of the signal that the wireless communication circuit receives.

13. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 12 wherein:

the route-selector selects the bypass route when the strength of the signal received is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold value.

14. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 11 wherein:

the route-selector has a controller for judging whether communication state of the wireless communication circuit is good or bad, and for generating a first control signal that is for selecting one of the amplification route and the bypass route in accordance with a result of the judging.

15. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 11 wherein:

the route-selector has a controller for judging whether communication state of the wireless communication circuit is good or bad, and for generating a first control signal that is for selecting one of the amplification route and the bypass route in accordance with a result of the judging; and

when the controller judges that the communication state is good even if a strength of the signal received is equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold value, the controller generates a first control signal that is for selecting the bypass route.

16. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 11 wherein:

the route-selector has a controller for judging whether communication state of the wireless communication circuit is good or bad, and for generating a first control signal that is for selecting one of the amplification route and the bypass route in accordance with a result of the judging; and

when the controller judges that the communication state is bad even if a strength of the signal received is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold value, the controller generates a first control signal that is for selecting the amplification route.

17. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 14 wherein:

when the wireless communication circuit receives no retransmission request from a counterpart communication apparatus to which the wireless communication circuit sent an information signal, the controller judges that the communication state is good.

18. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 14 wherein:

(a) the controller detects a degree of errors in reception data, which is generated from a signal received by the wireless communication circuit, and (b) when the degree of errors does not exceed a threshold value, the controller judges that the communication state is good.

19. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 14 wherein:

when an actual reception state of reception data generated from a signal received by the wireless communication circuit, accords with a forecasted reception state of the reception data, the controller judges that the communication is good, the forecasted reception state being notified from a counterpart communication apparatus before the signal is received.

20. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 14 wherein:

(a) the controller obtains a time information from reception data, which is generated from a signal received by the wireless communication circuit, the time information regarding a time at which application for the reception data is to be executed, (b) the controller compares, with the time information, a time at which the signal is received, and (c) when the controller judges that the reception data of the signal arrived before the time at which the application is to be executed, the controller judges that the communication state is good.

21. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 14 wherein:

when an error-resilience tool is not operated, the controller judges that the communication state is good, the error-resilience tool provided in an application using reception data, which is generated from a signal received by the wireless communication circuit.

22. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 14, comprising:

a receive buffer for temporally retaining reception data when reception data generated from a signal received by the wireless communication circuit is streaming data,

the controller receiving information from a communication apparatus that is to transmit the reception data, the information regarding a bit rate of the reception data and a buffer size that is necessary for temporally retaining the reception data,

the controller obtaining a buffer-full time t from the bit rate and the buffer size, the buffer-full time t being a time necessary for storing the reception data in the receive buffer,

the controller comparing the buffer-full time t with a buffering time t′

, which is an actual time taken to store the reception data in the receive buffer, and

when t′

≦

t, the controller judging that the communication state is good.

23. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 22, wherein:

when the receive buffer becomes empty during reception of the reception data, the controller judges that the communication state is bad.

24. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 14, wherein:

when reception data-generated from a signal received by a wireless communication circuit, in which the wireless communication circuit is provided, is continuously decoded, the controller judges that the communication state is good,

where a communication apparatus including the wireless communication circuit performs two-way communication with a counterpart communication apparatus.

25. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 14, wherein:

a threshold value is set as to a number of times the controller judges that the communication state is bad, and

while the number of times is less than or equal to the threshold value, the controller judges that the communication state is good.

26. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 11, comprising:

a power-supply stopper for stopping supply of power to the amplifier in concert with selecting of the bypass route by the route-selector.

27. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 12, comprising:

a power-supply stopper for stopping supply of power to the amplifier in concert with selecting of the bypass route by the route-selector.

28. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 13, comprising:

a power-supply stopper for stopping supply of power to the amplifier in concert with selecting of the bypass route by the route-selector.

29. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 14, comprising:

a power-supply stopper for stopping supply of power to the amplifier in concert with selecting of the bypass route by the route-selector.

30. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 15, comprising:

a power-supply stopper for stopping supply of power to the amplifier in concert with selecting of the bypass route by the route-selector.

31. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 16, comprising:

a power-supply stopper for stopping supply of power to the amplifier in concert with selecting of the bypass route by the route-selector.

32. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 11, wherein:

the amplifier is a power amplifier for amplifying a signal to be transmitted.

33. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 11 wherein:

the amplifier is a low-noise amplifier for amplifying a signal received.

34. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 11 wherein:

the bypass route has an attenuator for attenuating the signal.

35. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 11 wherein:

the bypass route has a variable attenuator for attenuating the signal with a variable attenuation amount.

36. A wireless communication apparatus, comprising:

a wireless communication circuit having an amplifier for amplifying a signal, the wireless communication circuit including;

an amplification route in which the signal passes through the amplifier;

a bypass route for bypassing the amplifier; and

a route-selector for selecting one of the amplification route and the bypass route.

37. A wireless communication system including a wireless communication apparatus, wherein:

the wireless communication apparatus comprising;

a wireless communication circuit having an amplifier for amplifying a signal, the wireless communication circuit including;

an amplification route in which the signal passes through the amplifier;

a bypass route for bypassing the amplifier; and

a route-selector for selecting one of the amplification route and the bypass route.

38. A wireless communication circuit having an amplifier for amplifying a signal, comprising:

a communication-distance-detector for detecting a distance from a communication counterpart; and

a route-selector for selecting, in accordance with the distance found out by the communication-distance-detector, one of (a) an amplification route in which the signal passes through the amplifier, and (b) a bypass route in which the signal bypasses the amplifier.

39. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 38 wherein:

the communication-distance-detector detects the distance, by using a strength of the signal received from the communication counterpart.

40. The wireless communication circuit as set forth in claim 38 wherein:

the route-selector selects the bypass route, when the distance from the communication counterpart exceeds a predetermined value, the distance found out by the communication-distance-detector.

41. A wireless communication apparatus comprising:

a wireless communication circuit having an amplifier for amplifying a signal, the wireless communication circuit including;

a communication-distance-detector for detecting a distance from a communication counterpart; and

a route-selector for selecting, in accordance with the distance found out by the communication-distance-detector, one of (a) an amplification route in which the signal passes through the amplifier, and (b) a bypass route in which the signal bypasses the amplifier.

42. A wireless communication system comprising:

a wireless communication apparatus including;

a wireless communication circuit having an amplifier for amplifying a signal, the wireless communication circuit including;

a communication-distance-detector for detecting a distance from a communication counterpart; and

a route-selector for selecting, in accordance with the distance found out by the communication-distance-detector, one of (a) an amplification route in which the signal passes through the amplifier, and (b) a bypass route in which the signal bypasses the amplifier.