SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING A REDUCED POWER AMPLIFIER TRANSMISSION MODE

• US 20100323753A1
• Filed: 06/19/2009
• Published: 12/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Laboratories of America Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Imamura, Kimihiko, Kowalski, John M., Choudhury, Sayantan, Park, Kenneth J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,515,363 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/552.1
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/02 Modifications of amplifiers to raise the efficiency, e.g. gliding Class A stages, use of an auxiliary oscillation
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/24 of transmitter output stages
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/045 with means for improving efficiency
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0689 using different transmission schemes, at least one of them being a diversity transmission scheme
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0277 according to available power supply, e.g. switching off when a low battery condition is detected
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/028 switching on or off only a part of the equipment circuit blocks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A user equipment (UE) that supports multiple antenna transmission via multiple power amplifiers may operate in a reduced power amplifier (PA) mode. When operating in the reduced PA mode, a subset of the UE'"'"'s power amplifiers are used to transmit uplink signals. A UE may send a preference signal to an e-Node B to request that the UE operate in the reduced PA mode.

Claims

1. A user equipment (UE), comprising:

multiple power amplifiers;

a processor;

memory in electronic communication with the processor; and

instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable by the processor to;

support multiple antenna transmission via the multiple power amplifiers; and

operate in a reduced power amplifier (PA) mode, wherein a subset of the multiple PAs are used to transmit uplink signals when the UE operates in the reduced PA mode.

2. The UE of claim 1, wherein the reduced PA mode is an uplink transmission mode, and wherein the uplink transmission mode is a one antenna mode.

3. The UE of claim 1, wherein the reduced PA mode is an uplink transmission mode, and wherein the uplink transmission mode is an antenna selection mode.

4. The UE of claim 1, wherein the reduced PA mode is a radio access technology (RAT) mode, and wherein the RAT mode is a Long Term Evolution (LTE) mode.

5. The UE of claim 1, wherein only one of the multiple power amplifiers is used when the UE operates in the reduced PA mode.

6. The UE of claim 1, wherein more than one of the multiple power amplifiers are used when the UE operates in the reduced PA mode.

7. The UE of claim 1, wherein the instructions are also executable to send a preference signal to an e-Node B (eNB), wherein the preference signal comprises a request for the UE to operate in the reduced PA mode.

8. The UE of claim 7, wherein the preference signal is sent via Media Access Control (MAC) control signaling.

9. The UE of claim 7, wherein the preference signal is sent via Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection re-establishment signaling.

10. The UE of claim 7, wherein the preference signal is sent via UE capability transfer signaling.

11. The UE of claim 7, wherein the preference signal is sent via a measurement report.

12. The UE of claim 7, wherein the preference signal is sent via Non-Access Stratum (NAS) control signaling.

13. The UE of claim 7, wherein the preference signal comprises at least one of UE type, battery status, and application type.

14. The UE of claim 1, wherein the instructions are also executable to send capability information to an e-Node B (eNB) via UE capability transfer signaling.

15. The UE of claim 1, wherein the instructions are also executable to implicitly send capability information to an e-Node B (eNB).

16. The UE of claim 1, wherein the instructions are also executable to create a preference signal based on evaluating reduced PA mode criteria.

17. The UE of claim 16, wherein the reduced PA mode criteria comprises pathloss information.

18. The UE of claim 16, wherein the reduced PA mode criteria comprises battery status.

19. The UE of claim 16, wherein the reduced PA mode criteria comprises an indicator of an E911 call.

20. A method that is implemented by a user equipment (UE), comprising:

supporting multiple antenna transmission via multiple power amplifiers; and

operating in a reduced power amplifier (PA) mode, wherein a subset of the multiple PAs are used to transmit uplink signals when the UE operates in the reduced PA mode.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the reduced PA mode is at least one of a one antenna mode, an antenna selection mode, and a Long Term Evolution (LTE) mode.

22. An enhanced Node B (eNB), comprising:

a processor;

memory in electronic communication with the processor;

instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable by the processor to;

determine that a user equipment (UE) should operate in a reduced power amplifier (PA) mode based on at least one of a preference signal received from the UE, capability information received from the UE, and eNB measurement results; and

instruct the UE to transition to the reduced PA mode.

23. The eNB of claim 22, wherein the instructions are also executable to measure channel conditions.