Power-efficient multi-antenna wireless device
First Claim
1. A multi-antenna wireless device comprising:
- a plurality of (N) transmitter units operatively coupled to a plurality of antennas, one transmitter unit for each set of at least one antenna from among the plurality of antennas, each transmitter unit operable to process a respective input signal and provide an output signal; and
a controller to selectively enable or disable at least one of the N transmitter units.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A power-efficient wireless device is equipped with multiple (N) antennas. Each antenna is associated with a transmitter unit and a receiver unit. The wireless device also has processing units used to perform various digital processing tasks. The transmitter units, receiver units, and processing units may be selectively enabled or disabled. In an idle state, the wireless device may enable only a subset (e.g., one) of the N receiver units and one or few processing units for signal detection and acquisition. For active communication, the wireless device may enable Ntx transmitter units for data transmission and/or Nrx receiver units for data reception, where 1≧Ntx≧N and 1≧Nrx≧N. The enabled processing units may also be clocked at a lower frequency whenever data is transmitted or received at a data rate lower than the highest data rate. The wireless device may go to sleep whenever possible to conserve power.
-
Citations
26 Claims
-
1. A multi-antenna wireless device comprising:
-
a plurality of (N) transmitter units operatively coupled to a plurality of antennas, one transmitter unit for each set of at least one antenna from among the plurality of antennas, each transmitter unit operable to process a respective input signal and provide an output signal; and
a controller to selectively enable or disable at least one of the N transmitter units. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. An apparatus comprising:
-
a plurality of (N) transmitter units operatively coupled to a plurality of antennas, one transmitter unit for each set of at least one antenna from among the plurality of antennas, each transmitter unit operable to process a respective input signal and provide an output signal; and
means for selectively enabling or disabling at least one of the N transmitter units. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A multi-antenna wireless device comprising:
-
a plurality of (N) receiver units operatively coupled to a plurality of antennas, one receiver unit for each set of at least one antenna from among the plurality of antennas, each receiver unit operable to process a respective input signal and provide an output signal; and
a controller to selectively enable or disable at least one of the N receiver units. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. A multi-antenna wireless device comprising:
-
at least one processing unit, each processing unit operable to perform designated processing for data transmission or reception via at least one of a plurality of antennas, each processing unit being enabled if the designated processing by the processing unit is used for data transmission or reception and disabled otherwise; and
a controller to enable or disable each of the at least one processing unit. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
-
Specification