FULL CLOSED LOOP AUTO ANTENNA TUNING FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20100041348A1
• Filed: 09/16/2008
• Published: 02/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Wilcox, Bruce E., Ozkar, Mete, Carpenter, Kerrance L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,068,798 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/77
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0458 Arrangements for matching and coupling between power amplifier and antenna or between amplifying stages matching circuits in general H03H

Abstract

A wireless terminal includes an RF transceiver, an auto tuner, and an antenna. When a remote signal is received at the wireless terminal, the auto tuner is adjusted in accordance with the received signal to optimize OTA performance of the wireless terminal. As further remote signals are received by the wireless terminal, the tuner is readjusted. As a user inputs information to be transmitted, the tuner is also readjusted in accordance with the transmission signals to optimize OTA performance of the wireless terminal, and a best compromise between the TX OTA performance and the RX OTA performance is calculated. Current/temperature information may also be obtained for readjusting the tuner.

Claims

1. A method of dynamically controlling wireless communication comprising the steps of:

receiving at a wireless terminal a remote signal and

adjusting a tuner of the wireless terminal in accordance with the received signal,

whereby over the air (OTA) performance is optimized.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

successively receiving a remote signal, and

readjusting the tuner with each successively received signal in accordance with the learning capability of the tuner.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising the step of concurrently readjusting the tuner in accordance with user input transmission signals.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the concurrently readjusting step comprises the step of calculating the best compromise between the transmission OTA performance and receiver OTA performance.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the calculating step comprises directly measuring the TX frequency band antenna impedance.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the calculating step comprises deriving via a look-up table the RX band antenna impedance.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the calculating step comprises deriving an ideal RX mode auto tuner matching core set-up.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the calculating step comprises obtaining received signal strength information from the wireless terminal.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the calculating step comprises obtaining bit error rate information from the wireless terminal.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein the calculating step comprises obtaining block error rate information from the wireless terminal.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein the calculating step comprises obtaining frame erasure rate information from the wireless terminal.

12. The method of claim 3, wherein the concurrently readjusting step comprises the step of determining the optimum delivered transmission power to the antenna.

13. The method of claim 3, wherein the concurrently readjusting step comprises obtaining battery current and wireless terminal temperature information.

14. A wireless terminal comprising:

an RF transceiver,

an auto tuner with learning capability, and

an antenna,

wherein the auto tuner is adjusted in response to the received signal to optimize OTA performance.

15. The wireless terminal of claim 14, wherein the auto tuner comprises:

a tuner core unit,

an antenna impedance measurement unit, and

a controller unit.

16. The wireless terminal of claim 14, further comprising a database comprising a look-up table relating TX impedance with RX impedance of the antenna.

17. The wireless terminal of claim 14, wherein the auto tuner is further adjusted responsive to the transmission signal.

18. Apparatus of claim 17, wherein the auto tuner is configured to calculate the best compromise between the TX performance and the RX performance.

19. Apparatus of claim 14, further comprising a baseband demodulation section coupled to the auto tuner.

20. A method of dynamically controlling wireless communication in accordance with a learning capability of an autotuner of a wireless terminal comprising the steps of:

A) waiting for the wireless terminal to receive a call,

B) measuring an Antenna Reflection Coefficient, TX performance, and RX performance to determine the Antenna environment at the beginning of the call,

C) storing the results,

D) checking for prior performance environment data,

1) if no historical performance environment data is found, cycling through a set of pre-determined core set-ups and measuring the OTA data,

a) if an acceptable OTA performance level is obtained, storing the data and returning to step A,

b) if no acceptable OTA performance level is obtained, returning to step B,

2) if pre-programmed performance environment data is found, determining if prior optimization has occurred,

a) if no prior optimization data is found, utilizing the pre-programmed performance Reflection Coefficient data to measure OTA data,

i) if an acceptable OTA performance level is obtained, storing the data and returning to step A,

ii) if no acceptable OTA performance level is obtained, returning to step B,

b) if prior optimization data is found, comparing the present Antenna Reflection Coefficient to Antenna Reflection Coefficients from previous calls,

i) if an acceptable OTA performance level is obtained, storing the data and returning to step A, and

ii) if no acceptable OTA performance level is obtained, returning to step D(2)(a).