System and method for reducing signal interference between bluetooth and WLAN communications

• US 20080045152A1
• Filed: 08/16/2006
• Published: 02/21/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Boes, Barry S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,824,966 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/63.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/1027 assessing signal quality or detecting noise/interference for the received signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 15/00 Suppression or limitation of noise or interference by means associated with receiver H04B1/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/1054 by changing bandwidth
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

Methods and systems are disclosed for reducing signal interference between Bluetooth (BT) and WLAN (e.g. WiFi) communications in an information handling system. The WLAN receiver has configurable front-end filter circuitry. Based upon information concerning the BT frequency region for current BT communications, the WLAN receiver can adjust or set its configurable front-end filter circuitry to filter out the BT communications. As the BT communications hop from frequency to frequency, the WLAN receiver can continue to adjust its configurable front-end filter circuitry accordingly. Example implementations for the configurable front-end filter circuitry include bandpass filters and selectable low pass and high pass filters. These filters are selected and/or tuned such that BT frequency regions are filtered from the WLAN input signal before further WLAN signal processing is conducted, thereby improving the performance of simultaneous BT and WLAN communications.

Claims

1. A method of reducing signal interference between Bluetooth and WLAN communications in an information handling system, comprising:

providing an information handling system with a Bluetooth transceiver and a WLAN transceiver, the WLAN transceiver having a configurable front-end filter system;

determining a frequency region for WLAN communications;

determining a frequency region for Bluetooth communications that does not overlap with the WLAN frequency region; and

setting the front-end filter system for the WLAN transceiver to reduce signals within the Bluetooth frequency region.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising changing the frequency region for Bluetooth communications and again setting the front-end filter system for the WLAN receiver to reduce signals with the Bluetooth frequency region.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the Bluetooth communications hop from frequency to frequency and wherein the front-end filter system is set based upon the next hop frequency.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the front-end filter system comprises a low pass filter and a high pass filter.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising selecting the low pass filter if the Bluetooth frequency region is higher than the WLAN frequency region.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising selecting the high pass filter if the Bluetooth frequency region is lower than the WLAN frequency region.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the front-end filter system for the WLAN transceiver comprises a tunable bandpass filter.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising tuning the center frequency for the tunable bandpass filter depending upon a location of the Bluetooth frequency region.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the WLAN communications comprise WiFi communications.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the Bluetooth communications utilize an adaptive frequency hopping channel avoidance scheme.

11. An information handling system having reduced interference between Bluetooth and WLAN communications, comprising:

a Bluetooth transceiver configured to communicate in a Bluetooth frequency region;

a Bluetooth baseband processor coupled to the Bluetooth transceiver;

a WLAN transceiver configured to communicate in a WLAN frequency region; and

a WLAN baseband processor coupled to the WLAN transceiver;

wherein the WLAN transceiver comprises configurable front-end filter circuitry having a control signal that sets the front-end filter circuitry to filter frequencies within the Bluetooth frequency region.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the WLAN baseband processor is configured to provide the control signal.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the WLAN baseband processor is configured to receive Bluetooth channel information from the Bluetooth baseband processor and to use the Bluetooth channel information to generate the control signal.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the front-end filter circuitry comprises a switch coupled to a low pass filter and a high pass filter, the switch configured to select the low pass filter or the high pass filter based upon the control signal.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the WLAN processor is configured to select the low pass filter through the control signal when the Bluetooth frequency region is higher than the WLAN frequency region.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the WLAN processor is configured to select the high pass filter through the control signal when the Bluetooth frequency region is lower than the WLAN frequency region.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the front-end filter circuitry comprises a tunable bandpass filter, the center frequency for the tunable bandpass filter being dependent upon the control signal.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the WLAN processor is configured to select the center frequency for the tunable bandpass filter based upon the location of the Bluetooth frequency region.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the Bluetooth communications hop from channel to channel and wherein the WLAN processor is configured to receive Bluetooth channel information from the Bluetooth baseband processor each time the Bluetooth transceiver is to hop to a new channel.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the WLAN communications comprise WiFi communications.